Fighter's Crusade: Project Epsilon
by ownerizer
Summary: A tale about Hitomi and her many victim--I mean, opponets. Reviews appreciated. !CHAPTER 9 PREVIEW IS UP! Satisfaction guaranteed or your read is free! Mild language and Detailed Violence.
1. Chapter 1

ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

                The following work is based on characters from a game by Techmo "Dead or Alive 3".  Some of the properties from the characters have been retained, but others have been changed and/or expanded upon.  The Author claims no right to the original characters, or the original plot from Team Ninja or Techmo.  However, the Author does reserve the right to this original work, and the Author's original characters herein.

Thanks go to:

+  Christopher Isak and Sebastian Huff for helping with the German part of this story

+  shivand1 for correcting my broken and often incorrect Japanese

+  Grandma Maki for inspiring me to study Japanese

+  Ms. Livadas for being awesome and helping troubleshoot this

+  Soil, Fear Factory, Spineshank, System of a Down, Godsmack, Thrice and Chevelle for

     rocking out while I typed this

+  Of course Team Ninja for creating THE best character to play with and write about

+  My friends and family for putting up with me making them read it

+  Everyone else for reading it

CHAPTER 1

Hitomi stood up from the wooden chair, and it slid smoothly backwards until it caught on the carpeted floor, and tipped over.  The thump as it hit the floor was inaudible as a squeal of joy escaped her lips.  "Thank you soooo much!" she said, while clasping the middle-aged man's hand who sat in front of her, girlishly shook it up and down with a sort of bouncing motion.  "Anyway, " said that man as she let go of his hand "my name is Kenneth Adams, and I'm the boss, manager-type person here at Club Shakedown.  I'm not gonna try and be a corporate A-Hole, since I own the place, just try to get here on time in the evenings 'cause we get pretty busy in here especially on the weekends.  And we're short-staffed enough as it is."  

"Yessir, " she replied, "and thank you again, it's been soooo hard to find a job."

"Yeah, the job market is kinda tight right now."

"Tell me about it," she paused obviously searching for something she forgot to ask.  

                "Tell me your name again, cute stuff?" Adams asked with a half smile.  Hitomi knew he was just teasing her.  There was no way this middle-aged man, dressed to conform to the latest trends, was trying to hit on her.  She smiled at Adams and told him.

"Hitomi," she replied "Hitomi Barrens."

"Okay Hitomi, I'll need you here at 8:00 p.m. tonight.  Be ready to work.  You won't have to do anything vulgar, just serve drinks, take food orders, that sorta thing.  And uhh….."  He trailed off, while looking her up and down.  Hitomi, apparently annoyed by this, glared him one of those infamous "woman looks".

"No, no, it isn't like that!" Adams quickly blurted out, trying to defend himself, raising his hands as if he was expecting her to unleash unearthly chaos on him.  "We are a night club, erm, well, could you dress a little more revealing?"  Hitomi frowned.

"Well, if I can keep the job," she paused "I guess," she said as she let out a sigh.

"Thanks."

"Is there anything else I need to know?" Hitomi asked.

"No, not really. It's a dance club, but sometimes we get the rowdy ones in here, so just behave yourself and if things get out of hand, let one of the big boys know; they'll handle it."

"Sure."

Hitomi turned and left the office. It sat on the top floor of the two-story dance club, with its huge glass windows sloping out at a steep angle.  It was three o' clock in the afternoon, so the only activity on the floor was a crew member who mopped the floor clean of anything foreign that had been left there from the previous night.  Hitomi proceeded to the metal staircase that faced the dance floor and descended it with Adams behind her.  She reached the ground floor, and walked towards the door, dodging tables and chairs.

"Hey, by the way," Adams said from behind her, getting her attention, "How'd a little Asian looking girl like you end up with a name like Barrens?  Sounds a lot more barbarous than Hitomi."

This made her smile; it wasn't often that she got asked about her name.

"My father is German," she replied, waving goodbye over her shoulder, not stopping or even turning around to talk.

"Hummm, good kid," Adams thought to himself. 

                As Hitomi opened the door, she noticed the "Help Wanted" sign that had caught her eye and caused her to inquire inside.  On her way out the door, thinking about the sign made her think about Adams.  Thinking about Adams made her think about that question.

_"How'd you end up with a name like Barrens?"_

"Stupid father," she thought to herself, "stupid Germany."

x x x x

Commencing the journey to her apartment, she looked around.  She hated the location of her apartment.  It stood on the second floor of a rundown building in the back of a commercially zoned area.  Maybe that's why the rent was so cheap, that and the fact that when she signed up to rent it, she practically draped herself across the registration desk to get a good rate.  A one-bedroom apartment with cable television and a laundry room for two hundred dollars less than what everyone else was paying.   At least she wasn't asked to perform any "favors".  She also hated walking down these narrow streets to the apartment.  They just didn't feel safe.  Maybe a car would come screaming around the corner. She wouldn't have enough time to dodge it, and she definitely couldn't jump it.

The apartment building came into view and she felt a little safer.  There was a commotion to her right. It sounded like a group of people.  The closer she got to the apartment building, the louder the commotion became.  Hitomi glanced behind her, seeing a group of four, obviously some sort of gang, and she was pretty sure they weren't up to any good.  She increased her pace knowing that the sooner she locked the door, the sooner she'd be safe.  Hitomi wanted to avoid conflict at most costs. But she realized they were following her when she began weaving through parked cars. They followed her taking the exact same route.

"Hey baby! Where ya' off to in such a hurry!?" she heard one of them behind her call out.

"Home!" she half-yelled without stopping or turning around.

"Awww, c'mon!" the voice said again, "Don't cha got any time for me?"

"Not today," she replied.

She heard one of them whisper inaudibly, obviously in an attempt to keep it concealed from her.  She heard footsteps approaching quickly from behind.  Hitomi stopped and turned around to see one guy out in front with three in pursuit behind him.  Looking around and positioned herself between the doors of two cars.  About this time, their leader figure lunged at her at full speed, trying to grab her shoulders. She balanced herself and lifted her knee. It collided in between the man's legs and sunk inwards towards his organs.  This stopped the man in his tracks. His jaw dropped as he tried to gasp for air.  Placing both feet back on the ground, Hitomi looked up just in time to see the man grab his crotch with his left hand and reach out to grab her.  She grabbed the man's head, placing both hands on the back of his head, braced herself, and threw him towards an adjacent car window.

The sound of the smashing window stopped the rest of them from approaching.  They stood dumbfounded as their leader was easily thwarted by a young girl.  She looked up and saw that anger was building in one of the other's faces and could tell that he could hardly contain himself.  She looked around at the leader's limp body, his head forced through the passenger side window.  Low moans of pain emanated from inside the car, Hitomi knew she hadn't killed him.  She carefully reached inside, dodging the broken safety glass, and unlocked the door.

It was about this time that her other stalker lost his cool.  "BITCH!" he screamed, full of hatred as he charged her.  Seeing how he was overcome with anger, she grabbed the door handle but didn't open it.  Watching the man with concentration she waited until he was within a few steps. With considerable force she swung the door open.  It was slow to open at first because a body was still lodged in the window, but it quickly gained momentum.  It was too late for her attacker, blinded by rage, the low car door cut short his barbaric charge, and he flipped head first, over it.  He never retaliated however; handing on his head and all his weight easily removed his consciousness.  The other two gang members seeing as how this little girl easily defeated the other two, scattered like cockroaches in the light, and Hitomi casually turned around and went up the stairs to her apartment.

x x x x

Locking the door to the apartment, Hitomi looked around.  It wasn't the best apartment ever, but at least it was hers.  It wasn't in the best of shape either.  Actually, it needs some real work.  The windows were frosted over from, Lord knows what, several light and electrical outlets didn't work, and no telling how many leaks it had.  The apartment had one bedroom, one living area, a full bath, a kitchen, and she got lucky and got a laundry room.  It had cable television, but a television was no where to be found in her apartment, no way to carry that, and it would of only weighted her down.

She got lucky when the neighbors downstairs saw her "moving in".  In reality the only things she moved in with were two suitcases and two pots.  They saw she had almost nothing and gave her an old couch, dresser, clock radio, and some cooking utensils.  They were nice guys; they weren't home or else that little scuffle she just had, might have brought them outside, and she didn't want them to get mixed up in this.  Hitomi couldn't immediately recall their names, but they both owned a car, if she remembered correctly, they were both friends attending college and splitting the rent.  She even convinced them to move the couch into her apartment for her.  She just put on a little girlish charm, touched them, and since they were both guys, kissed one, and they were putty in her hands.  She could have asked them for their television or their car, and they probably would have given it to her.

Hitomi walked over to the couch, and stood to examine it.  It was retro eighties, with its ugly brown and browner color scheme.  "Well," she thought to herself, "it may not be pretty, but at least it's something."    Plopping down on the couch it was broken in and comfortable, the way things do and feel good.  Stretching out, she looked at the ceiling, just in time to see a drop of water accumulate, fall, and disperse itself; square on her forehead.  She took a quick glance out the window.  It was clear and sunny outside.  "Guess I'll have the boys fix that," Hitomi said with a smile. She stretched out once more, lay down, and relaxed on the couch.  Sleep was clutching her body; she has been out early looking for a job.  Closing her eyes she drifted off.

x x x x

"Hitomi, where are you going to go?"

"Anywhere but here."

"How are you going to get there?"

"Anyway I can."

x x x x

Hitomi groggingly rubbed her eyes, opened them, but quickly shut them again as they adjusted to the light.  Apparently she had left the ceiling light on.  She glanced at the clock radio.  It read seven fifteen.  "Crap!" she said aloud, even though no one would hear her, "I've got to be at The Shakedown in forty five minutes!"  She quickly sat up from the couch and the blood drained from her head.  Disoriented, she collapsed on the floor.  "Dammit," Hitomi mumbled, cursing her awkwardness and apparent ability to sleep forever.  She didn't want to be late to her first day on the job.  Regaining her equilibrium, she righted herself.  It would take fifteen minutes to walk to The Shakedown, so that gave her thirty minutes to get ready.  

She hurried to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror.  Her cool blue eyes reflected back.  They seemed almost to be mirrors themselves.  Her long brownish-blackish hair flowed evenly over her shoulders.  It was a little messy since she had been sleeping on the couch.   Reaching up, she pulled out the pink headband that kept her hair back from blinding her view.  Her mother had given her the headband as sort of a "running away" present, but that was all in the past, she didn't want anything to do with that now.  Besides, she had to concentrate on getting ready for work.  She reached inside the shower curtain and turned on the hot water.  It came out ice cold at first but began to warm up.  She pulled out a towel from the cabinet over the toilet, lowered the toilet seat and lid and set the towel on top.  The room filled with steam giving the bathroom a sauna effect.  As she undressed she watched her reflection fade from view as the steam overtook the mirror.  "That's how it should be," she told herself, "faded and gone away."

x x x x

"I am NOT going to be late!" Hitomi said as she raced down the street towards The Shakedown.  She walked fast, almost a jog, but she didn't want to run fearing it might disrupt her hair.  As The Shakedown came into view, she saw there was already a long line of people already waiting to be permitted inside.  She came to the line and fought her way to the front.  As she reached for the entrance door hoping it would open since there were still twenty minutes till the club opened, a strong hand caught her wrist.

"Where do you think you're going?" A man's voice asked.  Hitomi was surprised; she didn't think anyone would try to stop her.  She looked up to see a tall Chinese man, with short black hair, still holding her wrist, his hand completely engulfing it.  

"To work," she answered.

"Yeah, it's not like I haven't heard that one a million times," he responded sounding annoyed.

Hitomi looked at him angrily.

"Back of the line, shorty," he said, spinning her around one hundred and eighty degrees.  He was about to shove her towards the line, which had now become a mini-riot, when the door opened behind Hitomi.

                "Lee," said a familiar voice, "let her in. She's our new waitress."  Hitomi spun around to see Adams walking back inside The Shakedown.  A feeling of relief swept over her.

"Sorry," said the bouncer replied dropping her hand.  

"You're just doing your job, right…muscle head," she said with a smile.  

                Lee opened the door, and Hitomi entered.  Not two feet inside, Lee his head through the door.  "Don't make any trouble, short stuff," he told her.  Hitomi smiled and continued over to the bar, where she sat down on a stool.  Adams came out of the back of the bar followed by another man.  

"Oh good," Adams said, "at least you're here."  

"Yeah, well, couldn't skip out on my first day," she replied.  

"Follow me," Adams commanded as he disappeared back behind the bar.  

Hitomi followed him.  Adams stopped and turned to face her.  "Lookin' good," he said, looking her up and down.  "Thanks," she said as she spun around in a circle imitating a model.  

                Hitomi wore dark, low waisted, stone washed jeans, revealing her midriff and belly button.  Her top was a tight fitting, golden bronze tank top with spaghetti straps with a black contour emblem of a bird on the front.  

                She looked around in the little narrow hall behind the bar.  A grill, glasses (lots of them), eating utensils and carrying trays were cluttered close together.  "Check it out," said Adams as he handed Hitomi a metal tray lined with rubber to keep dishes from sliding around. "Dishes go here," pointing to a sink, "glasses, put them in there," pointing to a dishwasher.

"Yokai![1]" said Hitomi, playfully saluting Adams.  

"Huh?" She could tell he had no clue what she just said.  

"Eh heh, it's nothing; just a little of my mom's side of the family," realizing that Adams had no grasp of the Japanese language.

"Here," said Adams handing her a nametag, "write your name on this, and wear it for me."

"Jawohl! [2]" she said as he took the nametag and a pen from Adams, and quickly scribbled her name on it., English on the top and in Japanese Katakana[3] on the bottom.  Adams gave up. This girl was too weird for him.  Hitomi then sandwiched her left spaghetti strap between the pin and clasp of the nametag, so she didn't have to jab herself with the pin.  Once she had it secure, she jiggled it a little to test it, and it stayed firmly positioned halfway between her left breast and collarbone.

"Ok, so now all you have to do," Adams explained, "is take orders from whoever is sitting at the tables."

"Sure thing," she acknowledged.

"Get to it," he said. 

As she turned to go back outside the bar, he gave her an inspirational pat on the back. 

"You'll be alright kid." 

She walked to the front of the bar, and looked around.   The lights had been dimmed, and colored spotlights raced across the floor.  A techno beat filled her ears. She looked over to the door to see Lee preparing to let a select few inside.

x x x x

Two hours later, the place was pretty busy like Adams said.  She was taking her orders over to the bartender who she found out was attending The University of California.  His name was Roger Jobes, a tall, 

mid-weight Caucasian with frosted brown hair.

"Hey Rod," she called out. There was no reply.  Hitomi realized the bartender was nowhere to be found.  "Roger?" she repeated, as she curiously poked her head over the bar.  She saw him crouched behind the bar, grabbing glasses, and he looked up.

"Wassup vertically challenged?" he said, teasing her.  "Uhh, yeah."  She was getting teased about her height a lot, and it was still her fist day on the job.  Maybe it was the fact that she was half-Japanese.  Maybe it was the fact that she was five foot, three inches.  "Anyway," she said sounding annoyed, "I need a Bud Light."  

"Sure thing," he replied.  He proceeded to open a refrigerator and pulled out a beer.  "One Bud Light," he said as he slid it down to her.

                Placing the drink on her tray, she walked over to the table that placed the order.  "Here you are," she said.  Two men were having a conversation, which was interrupted due to the arrival of the drink.  One wore white clothing that seemed to purple glow under the black lights of The Shakedown.  The other wore a black baseball cap pulled down low, concealing his face.  The man in white took the drink.

                Hitomi turned, tucked the tray under her arm, and started back towards the bar.  Stopping in mid-stride as the sound of metal chairs sliding backwards on the tile floor grabbed her attention, she turned to take a quick look.  Seven people, all males, stood staring at her; including the one to which she just served a drink.  The man in white pointed to her, and the one in the baseball cap nodded.

"C'mere," he addressed her, beckoning with his hand. Hitomi froze when she heard his command.  There was no way she could take on seven people, especially not in a crowded place like the club.  She glanced at the bar, and Roger knew there was trouble.  Quickly shifting her view back to the group, the man in the black cap reached up and adjusted it, enough to reveal his face.  Hitomi recognized him almost immediately. His face was covered in bandages.  She could tell it was the guy she hurtled through the window earlier that day.  "These others must be his friends," she thought.

                Hitomi looked over to the front door and saw Lee, standing just inside the door, poised for the first move.  She checked her surroundings.  A group of people off to her left about fifteen feet, dancing.  A support pillar directly behind her, beyond the pillar was the bar, to her right, advancing, was the vengeance bent mob.  The man in white was obviously their leader, placed his hand on the bandaged man's shoulder, who flinched slightly from the pain. The white man whispered something into his ear.  

                With the sync of a flock of birds they all started towards her. Their steps perfectly in rhythm.  They approached her. She took a few steps back, until her back collided with a support beam.  The man in the white stopped, so did the others.  The white man turned to one of his lackeys and gave him a stare, and the lackey dashed towards her.  Hitomi tightly clutched the tray in her right hand.  As he lunged towards her, she ducked, quickly forcing the metal tray out into the path of her attacker, catching him in the gut.

                As she removed the tray, that was now bent upwards where it had been forced into her attacker.  He collapsed on his side. The metal tray knocked more than the wind out of him, but also the will to fight.  It had apparently bent upwards, catching the bottom of his ribs, either bruising or breaking them.       

                She looked up at the mob again, but this time two men stepped out from the back, bigger and taller than the last kamikaze fighter.  She knew she couldn't handle both of them.  Hitomi wanted help. She looked at the door for Lee who had disappeared.  Hitomi stood back up and positioned the support beam behind her again.  "Here it comes," she thought to herself.  Both gorillas charged her. One in front of the other.  The first one was clearly faster, as he tried to punch Hitomi's mid-section.  She stepped to the left, grabbed his wrist with her left hand, put on leg behind his and with one, fluid, sweeping motion, put the other hand on his shoulder and forced him over.  He stumbled backward over her leg and crashed to the ground.  Quickly kneeling , she raised her right hand and brought it down on his nose.

                Then Hitomi remembered about the other one and looked up, but it was too late.  He was already too close for her to do anything.  She saw a flash of white behind the monster and all of a sudden his motion changed from a run to a full speed stumble.  Seizing this opportunity, she laid on her side on the ground, locked her legs around his shins, and she twisted into the direction of his stride.  He fell forward with incredible force. The support beam in front of him, however, required a lot more force to be moved.  

A fleshy crunch came from her attacker as his face met the exposed steel column.  He fell to the left of the pillar, hit the floor, and covered his face with his hands.  Hitomi unclasped his legs and stood on her feet.  By this time, the conflicts had drawn a crowd.  She quickly shot a look into the direction of her third attacker whose hands still covered his face.  He screamed with pain as a red liquid overtook his hands and the spot on the floor where his head rested.  She looked over to the man in white who reached behind his back and pulled out a square piece of metal.  A line projected from the end of it, and a red dot traced up Hitomi's body and stopped on her forehead.  A clicking sound came from the piece of metal as the man moved his finger.  Hitomi frozen with fear, had no way to defend against a gun.

"Die," said the man in white, his voice full of anger.

"**FREEZE!"**

Hitomi looked towards the command had been yelled.  Police officers were coming through the front doors with their guns drawn and flashlights on. 

"**YOU!" a policeman barked as he pointed his flashlight.  A flood of light hit the man in white's face.  This caused him to raise his free hand to shield the light from his eyes.  Hitomi, realizing chance, faded back into the crowd of people as the man in white as approached by a police officer.  Hitomi heard the police officer shouting more commands, but as she moved though the crowd they faded, mixing with the music as that overtook her ears.**

                She snuck her way behind the bar and hid down behind it.  Backing herself against the bar, she pulled her legs towards her.  Hitomi's mental state collapsed as she folded her hands on her knees and buried her face in them.  She could feel tears welling up inside.  "God," she cried ,"I'm sorry Anaka."  She couldn't stop the tears from flowing.  She grit her teeth and tried to take the emotional pain.  The warm tears dripped onto her arms, and into her lips where their salty taste did not warrant a reaction.  Her vision blurred from the crying while a white fog floated into view and Hitomi's skin started to itch.  As she breathed her lungs started to tingle.  At first it was an easy, simple, sensation, but it quickly turned into an intense burning pain.  Hitomi heard footsteps and looked up to see Lee standing in front of her.

                Lee raised an eyebrow.  Moments ago she was impressively defending herself against the attackers, but now she's curled up behind the bar crying.  He didn't understand this at all.  Hitomi looked up at him, her face glistened from the tears.  "You alright shorty?" he asked reaching a hand down to her.  Hitomi clutched her chest.  "I…" a coughing interrupted her sentence.  Reaching a hand out to Lee she tried to speak with what little strength she could muster.  "I'm having trouble bre –"

                 Hitomi didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as she quickly developed tunnel vision and was liberated from consciousness.

  


* * *

[1] Yokai – Japanese for "Understood" or "Acknowledged" mostly used in the military 

[2] Jawohl – German for "Yes sir!" an out of date acknowledgement used by the military

[3] Kanji – A form of Japanese written language 


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

"Hitomi……Hitomi, wake up."

"Ungh, five more minutes mom," Hitomi said as she rolled over in her bed, pulling the covers over her head sub-consciously.  She tried to force herself back to sleep but it was Saturday and the light from the mid-morning sun was too intense to let her go back to sleep.  Hitomi sat up in bed and looked at her clock.  It read ten, zero, seven.  Still kind of early for her to be getting up.  She heard footsteps walking down the hardwood hall floor, and she looked over to the door, waiting for someone to enter.  A large, full-body mirror on the back of door reflected her patience back to her.  Someone grabbed the doorknob and Hitomi watched it twist around, and the door slowly open.

"Hitomi? Are you awake yet?" her mother said, poking her head into Hitomi's room.

"Hai[1]," Hitomi replied, "Ohayo."

"Ohayo[2]," her mother said to her, "are you feeling ok?"

"Good," Hitomi responded, as her mother sat down in her bed next to her.

"Did you sleep well?" her mother asked while taking Hitomi's hairbrush from the small oak nightstand next to Hitomi's bed and caressed her hair.  

"For the most part," Hitomi answered her, while her mother started brushing her hair.  

"Did you dream about boys?" her mother asked her with a smile.

"Mother!" Hitomi choked out, it was a sudden shock and she was still half asleep.

"I'm seventeen, but I'm not always thinking about boys," she said defending herself.

"Well you should, that and getting married."

Hitomi pouted her lips and turned her head to face her mother, which slightly disrupted the rhythm of the hair brushing. 

"Why are you picking on my so early in the morning?"

"Oh, I just wanted to see how your love life is going."

"Well, it's none of your business," she mumbled to herself.

"I'm just looking out for my daughter, Hitomi-chan[3]," her mother said, giving her a hug.

                When she had finished embracing her, Hitomi's mother looked at her.  "A fine young woman," she thought to herself, "a bit of a tomboy though."  Her mother continued to brush her hair and Hitomi start to fall asleep again.  Her mother saw that she was dozing off, and gave a slight tug on Hitomi's hair.  Hitomi opened her eyes wide and gasped, the hair pulling snapped her back to full alert.

"You've slept enough," her mother told her as she started braiding her hair.  Hitomi knew that her mother was sharp about getting things done.  That's the way she had always been, and if you were asleep than you can't get anything done.  Her mother finished braiding her hair and tied it off with a white piece of small cord that was burnt at both ends to keep it from unraveling.  Her parents never bought anything they could more or less make themselves.  Something to tie your hair with was something they could do themselves.

"Now, get dressed, your father and I are going jogging and he wants you to come with us."  With that, her mother got up and walked towards the door.

"Hai," Hitomi said as her mother left the room and shut the door behind her.  Hitomi swung her legs over the edge of the bed and let them hang and lowered herself onto her pair of red house shoes.  She slipped her feet inside and made her way over to her closet.  She could still feel the cold hardwood floor even through the house shoes.  She opened her closet, and another full-body mirror projected her figure back to her.  She examined herself.  She was wearing a white tank top, that hung loosely over her, and pair of gray sweat shorts.

                She stretched out, raising her arms above her head, and yawning at the same time.  She continued to stretch until she felt loose and limber enough to do some physical activities.  Hitomi scanned her closet, and there were lots of clothes, but for a girl her age she estimated it was an average amount.  There were a lot of casual clothes, they largely outnumbered the amount of dress and formal wear that seemed to hide itself in the depths of the closet.  

There was a knock at the door.

                "Hitomi, " it was her mother," Hitomi, it's cold outside, so wear something warm."

Hitomi reached into her closet and pulled out a pair of gray sweatpants and draped them over the closet door.  Then she reached back into the closet, moved some clothes around, and found a gray sweatshirt and pulled it on over her tank top.  She reached for the pants, and positioned them so she could put them on.  Then she tactically took her right foot out of the house shoe, slipped her leg through the corresponding leg of the pants, and once her leg was all the way through, slipped her foot back into the house shoe.  She repeated this tightrope act for the other leg and once she had finished, she checked herself over in the mirror.

"No extreme bodily changes, no rips or holes in my clothes, everything looks satisfactory," Hitomi said to herself.  These checks were necessary because Hitomi also knew that her father would no stand for things like that, she figured it was because he was ex-military. 

                That's how he came to meet her mother.  Her father Hans, was in a special protection service for hire, that he always referred to as "The Crew".  They were similar to a mercenary or a Soldier of Fortune, but not as rough or heartless.  More or less it was a beefed up version of a bodyguard.  Hans was from Germany, born and raised there, learning early in life that you needed to work, and work hard, to survive.  Hans' father taught him wilderness survival, it was sort of a hobby to Hans, he never really thought he'd use it, and he learned Karate from the tutelage of his mother, who spent 20 years traveling abroad.  But Hans' family never had enough money to go around, and so when Hans had the chance to join The Crew at the age of 19, after seriously debating the choice with his parents, he joined.  His parents were strongly opposed to his decision, but The Crew would pay him, and for his training, room and board, and anything else he needed.  Five years later he took a job protecting the President of a newly formed technology corporation called DOAtek.  The President was to take a trip to Tokyo, Japan and Hans was to protect him for the two weeks that he was there.   He met Hitomi's mother, and his soon to be wife, Maki Yamazaki, at a university the President was visiting.  When Hans had to go back, they kept in touch with each other has much as possible.  Maki's parents were strongly opposed to their relationship, but she kept in contact with him nevertheless, and two weeks later, she had arranged to move to Berlin with him.  Shortly after, Hans quit The Crew and took two teaching jobs at local Karate dojos, to support himself and Maki.  

                Two years later, Hitomi Barrens was born in Munich, Germany on May 25th.  Hans didn't want her to experience the same hardships and tough times as he had endured, and Maki wanted her to have some of the tradition Japanese values and thinking that would help her stay strong and sturdy in a degrading and immoral society.  So they both decided to raise her in a manner that would keep their daughter safe from the dangerous world around her.

x x x x

                Hitomi walked towards the front entryway of the house, where she knew they'd be waiting for her.  She reached the door, and stepped out of her house shoes, and barefoot she went outside.  Hans and Maki were waiting for her.  

"Ohayo," said Hitomi as she joined them.

"Ohayo," replied her mother.  

Hitomi was a little taller than her mother, Hitomi being five-three, her mother was close to five foot even.  Maki had long straight black hair that was tied back in a ponytail as compared to Hitomi's brown hair that was now braided by her mother.  Maki still looked good and was in good shape for being forty four years of age, her skinny but not sickly skinny build might deceive the average person and not put her a day over thirty.  

"Oheho[4] ," said her father.  Hans' Japanese wasn't as good as Hitomi's or Maki's, but Maki taught him enough to hold a conversation, enough to get him by.  It just had a real strong German accent.  Hans was a tall five-ten, easily dominating Maki and Hitomi.  With his dirty blond hair and dark blue eyes, he could look tough and powerful if he hadn't shaved for a while.  Hans had a strong and built body, that would probably not give him the appearance of a forty-seven year old.  

"Hay[5] ," mumbled Hans as he handed Hitomi a pair of ankle weights.  

Hitomi did not take the weights at first, but instead looked at them and gave Hans a disappointed look.

"Do I have to?" she half-whined.

"Do you want to be strong?" Hans asked her.

Hitomi nodded and took the weights from him.  They weren't as heavy as she thought, until she secured them to herself.

"Let's go," said Hans as he started off down the street.  Maki started behind him, but quickly caught up and matched pace with him.  

                Hitomi tried to move.  Her legs were a lot heavier with the ankle weights.  She could see her parents getting further and further away, and a damp fog crowd her view as clouds rolled in overhead.  She tried moving again, but it seemed like her legs were getting heavier.  She reached out to her parents, but they neither slowed down nor took a backwards glance to check on her.

"Ah, wait – er, chotto mateo[6] ," Hitomi choked out as her parents disappeared into the fog.  She collapsed on her hands and knees onto the ground, her eyes welling up with tears.  It had been so long since Hitomi had seen her parents and she missed them so much.  She did not want to cry, but could not stop the flow of tears down her face, to her chin, and onto the rough cobble street.

"Mother…..father," she cried, "wait for me."

x x x x

                Lee walked into his room and checked on Hitomi was lay on his bed in a dreamlike state.  He crouched on the floor, took a washcloth from a basin on the floor, wrung it out, and placed it on her forehead.  Her eyebrows and eyelids flinched slightly, like they had been doing for the past day since the Shakedown had been raided, and she collapsed.  Lee stood up and left the room to go into the kitchen to obtain a soda.  A minute later he returned with a can, and stood in the doorway to observe Hitomi.  Adams had given him as much time as he needed to look after her, but Adams would have much rather taken her to a hospital.  Lee knew otherwise.  He knew that the gang that tried to ambush Hitomi was also part of a much larger crime syndicate, and that they would follow her to a hospital as well.  

                When he was about to take a drink from the soda can, Hitomi gasped and opened her eyes.  

"Good mornin' Sleeping Beauty," Lee said casually with can of soda still to his lips.  Hitomi sat up, but grabbed her head because of the draining of blood caused her to feel nauseated and disoriented.

"Ungh, my head," she moaned.

"Yeah, you've been out for about a day now," Lee told her. 

                                "Where am – ," she cut herself short, and looked at her clothes.  They were not the same clothes she had last known herself to be wearing, but a large and baggy gray t-shirt.  

                                "HEY!" she yelled at Lee angrily, "what the hell's up with this!?  Where are my clothes!"

Lee could see where this was going.                

"Whoa, whoa, calm down and I'll explain the whole thing," Lee said as he raised his free

hand defensively.  Hitomi gave him an angry stare.

"You'd better have a damn good reason Lee, if not, you'd better be prepared for an ass-kickin'," she told him sternly.

                                "You're one to talk, you're in no condition to fight," he yelled back at her.

                                "But I can still kick yours," she said throwing back the covers of the bed.

                She stood up from the bed, and started leaning to the left, but quickly jutted her foot out to correct herself.  She was still a little drowsy and her head drooped down towards the floor, and that's when she noticed she wasn't wearing any pants.  The shirt went down low enough not to expose anything, but the fact remained; she wasn't wearing any pants.

                                "Lee, where are my pants?" she asked him calmly.

                                "Your clothes are being washed," he replied as calm has he had always been.

                                "Lee, what happened?" she asked again, still in the calm voice.  She probably had this state of mind from pure shock, her waking up in a strange bed, with strange clothes, and no pants.

                                "If you lay back down I'll tell you," Lee said.

Hitomi obeyed, laid back down on the bed and pulled the covers up to her waist.

"Now listen," he said, "the group of guys you had a little fun with back at the Shakedown, they have ties to a bigger syndicate called 'Red 32', who run everything from weapons to drugs, all up and down the West Coast.  If I hadn't of pulled your limp body out from behind the bar you'd be dead.  And if I hadn't of tripped that one guy towards you, he probably would of killed you, or done worse."

Hitomi remembered tripping one of those monsters into the steel pillar.  She remembered a little further back, to right before the stumble.

                                "The flash of white, that was you?" she asked trying to sound amazed.

                                "Yeah."

                                "You're fast."

                                "Yeah."

"Lee, if you did anything to me while I was out, I swear I'm gonna kick your – ," she was interrupted by another body as it entered the room.

                                "Don't worry, he didn't do anything," the body told her.  

Hitomi adjusted her eyes and a female figure came into view.

                                "Who – ," Hitomi started but was interrupted by the person.

"I'm Sarah Cleveland, I'm a friend of Jann's," she said.  "I'm a local doctor here, and business has been kinda slow, so when he called me up about you, I headed over," Sarah continued.

Sarah was middle-aged, mid height woman with short brown hair, and a sort of motherly voice.  She came across to Hitomi as a real easygoing person, who had a relaxing aura.  When she came into the room, it made Hitomi feel safe. 

"So," Hitomi said, sounding annoyed.

"Listen," Lee said," when Sarah got here you were running a fever, having trouble breathing, and unconscious.  If you'd of stayed in that tear gas any longer you probably would have died.  How about showing us a little more gratitude, oompa loompa."

Hitomi shot him one of those "woman's stares."

"To her yes," she said nodding her head towards Sarah, "to you however, I don't know how I got in these clothes, I still don't know if you did anything to me while I was out, and if you don't quit making short jokes, I'm gonna kick your butt.  And I still don't know if you took advantage of me or not."

"He didn't," Sarah explained," I changed your clothes, and have been here with Jann the whole time, so relax honey.  I can give him a physical to check him out and see if he did anything," she said smiling to Hitomi.

The Doctor turned to Lee.  

                                "Could you leave us alone for a bit?" she asked him.

"Sure, sure," he said and left the room and shut the door behind him with the soda can to his lips.

Sarah turned back to Hitomi.  She could tell Hitomi was scared and confused by these events.

"Listen honey, I know this must be awkward for you, but listen to me for a minute," Sarah told her.  

She nodded in acknowledgment.

"Now," the Doctor continued," when I got here, Lee had you laid out on the couch with an icepack on your head.  He told me that you collapsed after inhaling the tear gas.  Is that right?"

Hitomi tried to remember, recalling the cloud of smoke and nodded her head.

"I figured as much," Sarah said," I think you have a severe allergic reaction to something in the gas, maybe chlorine.  Do you know if you have any other allergic reactions to anything?"  she asked Hitomi.

She shook her head.

                                "I figured that too," Sarah said to herself.

"Now about your clothes," she explained," I could not have you in those clothes for, well, we didn't know how long you'd be out, and you were going to overheat in those clothes you had on," she paused," so I had Jann help me carry you to the bathroom, and after he left and I had locked the door, I stripped you down.  I ran some cool water into the tub, heh, and had a time trying to get you into it.  But after having you in there for about ten minutes, and washing you off, your temperature had gone down a little, but it was still pretty high.  I managed to pull you out of the tub, sat you down, and ran some hot water through the shower to steam up the bathroom.  That seemed to help with your breathing.  I took Jann your clothes and told him to wash them, and he gave me a towel and that baggy shirt you're wearing now."

All this took a few seconds to sink in and Hitomi thought about all the events she had just been informed about.  Then it hit her.

                                "So who's underwear am I wearing?" she asked Sarah.

"I went out a bought you some underclothing.  They're really cute, and look good on you."  The Doctor winked to Hitomi.  

"You can keep them," The Doctor told her.

"Thanks."

There was a knock at the door followed by Lee's voice.

                                "Hey, can I come in?"

                                "Sure," The Doctor said towards the closed door.

Lee opened the door and walked in with Hitomi's folded clothes in his arms.  He walked over to his bed and plopped them down in front of her.  "Here's your clothes," he said to her.  Hitomi looked at her clothes, quickly snatched her underwear out of the pile, and hid them protectively under the covers with her.

                                "Lee no baka[7]," she mumbled to herself.  Lee shrugged.

                                "Your problem," he said as he sat down on the bed.

                                "I need to ask you some questions," he told Hitomi.

                                "Yeah, and?" she replied roughly.

"Get off my case twinkie," he said getting angry," if it wasn't for me who pulled your limp ass out of the bar, you probably – ," he stopped short when Sarah placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Lee, give her a break, it's not her fault.  She's just scared," Sarah whispered into his ear.

Lee's face turned from anger to serious contemplation.  He turned to Hitomi who had sat up on the bed staring at him with an angry face.

"Hitomi, I need to know if those people know where you live.  If they do, I can't let you go back to your apartment," Lee told her.

"Why!?" Hitomi said in an angry shock.

"Because if Red 32 knows where you live, they'll stake it out and wait for you.  If you need something you'd be better off letting me or Sarah go and get it."

"I'd like to have my clothes."

"Is there anything else you need?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"There's a pink headband on top of my dresser. I need that too."

"What's a headband," asked Lee, confused.  Sarah stopped him.

"Don't worry honey," she told Hitomi, "I'll go get it for you."

"Thank you," she replied.

"What's a headband?" Lee asked again, putting more emphasis on the fact that he was still at a loss about this object.

"Don't worry about it, Jann sweetie," Sarah told him, "I'll go get it so you don't have to worry about it."

Hitomi looked at Lee.  He was hunched over the bed, straightening the covers.  As he came by her, she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him towards her.

"Lee honey," she said in a loving voice, "LEAVE THE ROOM."

                "Yes ma'am," he replied and left the room shutting the door behind him.

                                "What's up?" The Doctor inquired.

"I'm getting dressed," Hitomi said as she sat up from the bed and tried to pull off the t-shirt.  It was too big and awkward for her and as it caught on her elbows, it disoriented Hitomi even more and she fell on her side on the bed.

"Lemme help you with that," The Doctor giggled.

x x x x

                Lee walked into his living room and carefully sat down on his couch so he didn't spill the soda in his hand.  He took a look around his apartment.  It was small, yet it seemed roomy with it's easy homey feeling furnishings.  He didn't have a whole lot of money, he worked as a bouncer after all, but it was enough to support himself and possibly one other person. He took a drink from the can and looked around.  The walls were almost bare except for two framed posters of Bruce Lee.  One behind him about the couch, and one to the left of his television, which sat on a small entertainment center directly across from him.  To his right, was the front door, and beyond the wall with the television was the kitchen.  To his left was his bedroom, where he assumed the two girls were still conversing. 

                Lee heard the bedroom door open, and he looked to his left to see Hitomi hobble into the living room dressed out in the clothes she had on the previous night, supported by The Doctor on her right.  The Doctor walked her over to the couch and Hitomi sat down while The Doctor took a seat on the floor.  

                                "Do you two want a soda or somethin' ?" Lee asked them.

                                "No, thanks," The Doctor declined.

"Oneg¾, bit¾[8], erm, please," said Hitomi, cutting herself off twice, realizing she just tried to say 'please' in two different languages neither person might not understand.

Lee was about to get up from the couch so he could go get a soda for Hitomi when she stopped him.

                "I don't want a whole one," she explained, "I just…"

She reached over, took Lee's can out of his hand and took a drink.  Then she shook it a little to get an idea of how much liquid remained in the can, raised it to her lips chugged the rest, and gave the empty can back to him.  Lee looked at Hitomi in amazement, the at his empty can in disappointment.  The Doctor laughed.

                                "She got you there, Jann honey," Sarah laughed.

                                "Gomen[9]," Hitomi replied wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

                                "Not fair." He said as he turned to Sarah.

                                "Should we go get her stuff now?" he asked her.

Sarah nodded.

                                "Where are my keys?" Hitomi asked them. 

Sarah reached into her pocket and pulled out a small key ring  with no more than 5 keys on it.  

"Here," she said, tossing them to Hitomi, "Which one is your house key?"

"This one," she said, holding a single silver key up by it's end, the others falling away and gathering at the bottom of the key ring with a metallic clanking noise.  

The Doctor stood up to take the keys from her, but Hitomi held them defensively against her chest.  

                                "I want to go with you," she told The Doctor.

Sarah looked at Lee.

                                "No," he said strongly, "I can't let you go and put yourself at risk." 

                                "C'mon Lee, I'm a big girl now, I can take care of myself," she argued.

"I think it might be better if you stayed here," The Doctor countered, "I mean your still a little weak and we don't want any of those punks coming after you.  Well,  what if they have guns or something?  And I think you should listen to Lee, he's been there, so he knows what he's talking about."

"Okay," Hitomi said, disappointed.  She knew she couldn't win this one.

                Lee reached into the back pocket of his regular fitting black jeans and pulled out his wallet.  It was tattered and worn, it obviously had seen better days.  He opened it and pulled out a twenty dollar bill.  Handing it to Hitomi he said "Here, order us a pizza or something."

"Where's the phonebook?" she asked.

Lee pointed to the television.  It rested atop several phonebooks. She nodded her head in acknowledgement.  Sarah and Lee turned to leave out the front door.

"Hold it," Hitomi said to stop them, "how do you know where I live?"

Lee looked at her.

"If Adams knows then I know."

x x x x

Two hours later, Lee and Sarah walked back into his apartment.  They were greeted by a sweet smell, a light white haze, and a sizzling sound.  Lee continued inside and placed two trash bags full of clothes on the couch.  Sarah walked into the kitchen to find Hitomi bent over the stove, working a pan and spatula.  Her hair was tied back into a ponytail with a piece of twine, that had been burnt at both ends.  

"We're back," Sarah told her as Lee walking into the kitchen to join them. 

                                "Hey, I put your clothes on the couch," he said.  Lee looked around.                                                                       "Are you cooking something?" he asked.

                                "Hai,"  she replied still bent over the stove.

                                "Smells good," The Doctor told her.

Hitomi took a pair of chopsticks from her back pocket and fished a vegetable off a sizzling pan on the stove,  She turned around and advanced towards Lee, holding the green pepper out with the chopsticks and her left hand under the vegetable to catch the drip.  She blew off the pepper in an attempt to cool it down, and shoved it into Lee's mouth.  Hitomi giggled.

"How does it taste?" she asked him.

Lee was surprised by this sudden turn of events, himself becoming an involuntary taste-tester, and he concentrated hard to move the hot vegetable around to keep it from burning his mouth.  Sarah laughed at him.

"Is it that hot?" Hitomi asked him as if she had no idea that the vegetable could easily burn.

Lee nodded, chewed and swallowed.

"That was good," he said to Hitomi, "where'd you learn to cook like that?"

                                "My mom taught me, was it THAT good."

                                "Yeah."

Hitomi smiled at him.

"Danke[10]," she said to Lee with a smile. Lee raised in eyebrow in confusion.

"Don't worry about it, it's my father's side of the family," she told him.

The Doctor held a pink headband in her hand.

"Here honey," she said, holding it out to Hitomi.

Hitomi saw the headband and shoved the chopsticks into Lee's hand, grabbed the spatula and shoved it into his empty hand.  She took the headband from Sarah and headed towards the bathroom inside Lee's room.

"Stir the vegetables so they don't burn," Hitomi told him.

                Lee looked at the chopsticks in  his left hand and the spatula in his right. He thought about it for a second and tried to pawn the spatula off on Sarah.  She raised her hands and took a step backwards.  

"Don't give that to me," she said, "I can't cook."

"Why'd I get it," Lee complained waving the spatula around, "I can't even boil water."

By this time Hitomi had finished putting on the headband and walked back into the kitchen.  She was the two of them arguing and snatched the spatula out of Lee's hand.  She glanced over to the pan, could tell the vegetables haven't been stirred and knew they would burn if she didn't do something quick.

"Baaaaka[11]," Hitomi said to Lee as she went to tend the vegetables.  She grabbed the pan, and moved the pan to a dormant burner, turned off the burner that it was on, and stirred the vegetables.  The Doctor studied Hitomi.  She seemed to be re-energized since that incident at The Shakedown.  Lee walked back into the living room and stretched out on his couch and Hitomi continued to nurture her food, but Sarah continued to give Hitomi a visual examination.  Sarah walked up behind her and placed her hand on Hitomi's shoulder.

                                "Are you alright honey?  You're not hurting anywhere are you?" she asked Hitomi.

                                "No, I think I'm alright."

                                "Are you sure?" The Doctor asked squeezing Hitomi's shoulder.

                                "Yeah."  

                                "Ok, well if you have any problems lemme know."

"I will," Hitomi said as she removed the lid from a pot on the stove and a cloud of steam escaped.

Sarah walked over to Lee, who was sprawled out on the couch obviously being lazy.

"Hey lazy bones," she said as she slapped his knee, "I'm gonna go now, I have some thing at home that need to be taken care of and Hitomi seems to be fine now.  If she has any more problems call me up.

"Okay," Lee replied.

Sarah turned to go out the door.

"Hey," Lee stopped her, "now we're even."

"Don't worry about it," she said waving her hand as if to blow off his concern.

"And you take good care of Hitomi," she jokingly told him, pointing a finger and winking.

Lee gave her an annoyed look.

                                "Later, Lee honey," she told him as she walked out the door.

                                "Take care," he said as The Doctor shut the door.

                Lee continued his lazy state on the couch.  He began to drift off into a half alert, half asleep state.  Time seemed to stand still, as he stared at the ceiling.  Lee focused on a point, and stared at it, unsure why he did, but really didn't care.  He was interrupted when Hitomi's puzzled face, half cocked to the side, overtook the spot on the ceiling on which he was focused.  

                                "Lee? Are you alright?" she asked him.

It took a few seconds for this what seemed like long unused human communication to sink in, before Lee realized what was going on.

                                "Yeah. Why?"

                                "Because I've been calling you for dinner for a while."

                                "Oh."

"Come and eat," she said, taking hold of his right hand, pulling him out of the couch and leading him by the hand towards the small two-person table in the kitchen.

Lee sat down at the table and stared wide-eyed at the meal that had been laid out for him.

                                "Whoa," he uttered in amazement.

                                "What?"

                                "I¾ I haven't had anyone cook for me in a long time."

Hitomi giggled in embarrassment.  He studied the table.  There sat a pot of steaming rice and a pan of sautéed vegetables that still sizzled.  In front of him rested one of his old ceramic plates that he had obtained at a discount store, but they sat dormant in his closet since he knew he couldn't cook if his life depended on it.  Next to the plate stood a glass of ice water, a fork and a pair of chopsticks.

"Hand me your plate," she told him.  Lee snapped out of his trance of amazement.

"Oh, uh, ok,"  he said, fumbling with the plated to hand it to Hitomi.

She took the plate from him and sat it down in front of her.  Taking to pot of rice, she spooned a monstrous lump onto the middle of the plate.  Setting the pot down she went for the vegetables, placing some on top of the rice, and handing the plate back to him.

"Wow," Lee said after receiving the plate, "this looks almost too good to eat."

"Presentation is half the meal," she told him, "my mother taught me that."

Lee picked up the for and searched for the ideal unsuspecting vegetable to impale. 

"What's the matter?" Hitomi giggled to him, "Don't you know how to eat with chopsticks?"

Lee hung his head in shame and disappointment.

                                "No," he mumbled.

Hitomi leaned forward over the table.

                                "Seriously?" she asked in amazement.

                                "Yeah."

                                "Wait, why not?  Your Chinese aren't you?"

"Yeah, I've just lived here all my life, and never cared to eat with them.  A fork seems so much more natural to me."

"Watch, like this," Hitomi motioned with her hand, taking the chopsticks in front of her and setting them up in her hand.

Lee attempted to follow her example, setting them up, incorrectly, in his hand.

"Now, pick something up with them," Hitomi instructed, continuing her example by picking up imaginary food off her plate.  Lee tried to pick up a small strip of green pepper but it slipped and fell back down on the plate.  He tried again, but the vegetable continued to allude him.  Hitomi laughed at him.

"It's not funny," Lee told her.

"Yes it is," she replied giggling, raising from her chair.  Hitomi walked over behind Lee and pressed herself against his back.  She reached around and arranged the chopsticks into the correct position in his hand, then gently caressed the back of his monstrous hand.

"Like this,"  Hitomi whispered as she guided Lee's chopsticks towards the plate of food.  Once she had targeted them above a morsel, he closed the chopsticks, wedging it between them.  

"Good," she said, "now raise it to your mouth."  

Lee raised the chopsticks to his mouth with Hitomi's assistance but the vegetable loosed itself and fell towards temporary freedom on the plate.  He looked to Hitomi with a face about to cry. 

                                "At this rate, I'll starve to death," he said, on the verge of crying.

                                "Keep trying," Hitomi told him.

Lee started to reach back towards the fork, but Hitomi caught his hand.

                                "No," she playfully scolded him, "anyone can use a fork, but chopsticks take skill and                                        elegance."

                                "But I'll starve to death before I learn to eat with those," Lee complained.

Hitomi rolled her eyes and sighed.

                                "Lee, you're such a baby," she told him.

Hitomi reached for Lee's abandon chopsticks.

"Now watch," she instructed me.  "One," and Hitomi positioned the chopsticks in her hand.  "Two," and she reached down on Lee's plate and picked up the pepper.  On the count of three she shoved the pepper into Lee's mouth and its escape was ended.  Lee concentrated as he chewed and swallowed.  

"Wow, that's awesome," he said in a state of bliss, "it's crunchy on the outside, but soft in middle." 

Hitomi gave him another "Woman's Stare".

                                "What?" he asked, "why do I always get those?"

"Because you're always screwing up.  The vegetables are supposed to be soft all around, but you didn't stir them."

"But I can't cook," Lee argued.

"You didn't have to, all you had to do was stir, it's not THAT hard."

"Yeah, but¾"

"No buts, from now on I'm confiscating all the forks and you're learning to eat with chopsticks."

Lee could see there was no arguing with her, at least not in the position he was in.

                                "Yes mother," he said to her.

This response caught Hitomi by surprise and she took a second to think.  Now that he had said that, she realized that she was acting like a mother.  Thinking about this made smile.  It was what her mother had wanted her to accomplish for so long: "find a nice man to settle down with and care for". She giggled.

                                "What?" Lee asked her.

                                "Nothing, Lee-chan," she told him as she gave him a slight hug.

Lee wasn't expecting this and he leaned away giving her a funny look.

"Don't worry Lee-chan," she said patting him on top of his gelled, spiked up hair, "I'll take good care of you."

"Thanks," he said rolling his eyes, annoyed because he was treated like a baby.

"Here," Hitomi said to him to get his attention as she grabbed his chopsticks loaded them with food, and presented it towards him.

"Say ahhh," she instructed with a gentle voice.

Lee rolled his eyes and opened his mouth.  Hitomi placed the flood inside and Lee chewed, swallowed and took a drink from the glass of water.

"I'm not a baby," Lee argued, " I can feed myself."

"Apparently not! I'm going to feed you with these until you learn to use them. Now open."

x x x x

Lee laid himself back on the couch again.  He could hear Hitomi cleaning and organizing things in the kitchen.  Stretching out and put his hands under his head.  Hitomi walked by him grabbing her trash bags of clothes and dragging them into Lee's room then heard her shut the door and lock it.  A minute later Hitomi emerged wearing a plaid pair of pajama pants and a loose fitting white t-shirt.  She got Lee's attention by standing in front of him.  Lee stared at her.  This was the first time he had been alone in his apartment with a girl, and now she was standing in front of him in her pajamas.  He was paralyzed as Hitomi approached him.

"Move," she said, "I wanna go to sleep."

Lee looked around as if she was talking to someone else.  This girl who had just literally fed him dinner was demanding that he moved himself from his own couch?  She had some nerve.  "Well it's the least I can do she did cook me dinner after all," he thought to himself.  He glanced at the clock sitting on top of the television.  It was late.  Lee looked at Hitomi.  Her dirty brownish-blondish hair was offset by her blue eyes.  He chuckled to himself after he saw she was wearing pink fingernail polish like a little girl.  Hitomi walked up to Lee and shook him lazily on the shoulder.

"C'mon, mooove I'm tiiired," she dragged out like a child.

Lee looked at her, still smiling about the fingernail polish.

                                "How old are you?" he asked.

                                "Why?"

                                "Because I want to know."  

                                "Eighteen."

                                "You want to sleep on the couch?"

                                "Yeah."

                                "Why?"

                                "Why do you ask so many questions?"

                                "Because I want to know since I don't know much about you."

"You want to know about me?" Hitomi responded happily, "awww, Lee-chan I'm touched," she said trying to give him a hug.

Lee saw it coming and sat up on the couch to dodge her arms and all Hitomi embraced was air as she fell down onto the couch.

"Well, if you want to sleep on the couch, go for it," he said as he raised from the couch and made his way into his room.

He returned with a blanket to find Hitomi curled up on the couch already asleep.

                                "How can she already be out?"  Lee thought to himself.  He realized he was pretty tired himself  and stumbled back into his room to lay down on his bed.  He pulled off his shirt and lazily left it on the floor, crawled into bed, and stared at the ceiling till he slipped off to sleep.

  


* * *

[1] Hai – Japanese for "Yes"

[2] Ohayo – Japanese for "Good Morning"

[3] Chan – a honorific like "Mister" , here it represents a term of endearment, like "Dear" or "Sweetie"

[4] Hans can't speak Japanese well, he is trying to say "Ohayo"

[5] Hans still can't speak Japanese, he is trying to say "Hai"

[6] Chotto Mateo – Japanese for a respectful  "wait"

[7] "Lee no baka" translates from Japanese to "Lee you idiot" in English

[8] Hitomi tries to say "please" in Japanese and German. "Onegai" and "Bitte" respectively.

[9] Gomen— Japanese for "Sorry"

[10] Danke –German for "Thank you"

[11] Hitomi once again calls Lee an idiot, but drags it out to emphasize it 


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 

                It was a bright and sunny Friday morning in Germany.  Hitomi had her hair tied back in a ponytail that blew slightly in the breeze. The noise of the school did seem to effect her in her still half asleep, drowsy state for this morning hour. She was not a morning person.  

"Hitomi, Hitomi wait up!"

Hitomi snapped out of her sleepwalking state and glanced behind her.  Anaka a childhood friend of Hitomi's was running up from behind to catch up with her.  

                                "Morgen, Hitomi," Anaka wheezed.

                                "Morgen[1]."

"Wait for me," Anaka said bent over with her hands on her knees trying to breath ,"I'll walk you to class."

"Okay, but don't you have class now?"

"No, I'm going to the library to study."

Anaka walked with Hitomi into the school building.  She had been inside it a million times, or that's what it seemed like.  It's familiar surroundings for the old red bricks and low ceiling of the thirty year old high school seemed comfortable to her.

                Anaka was a friend of Hitomi's and a good one at that.  She had gone to school with Hitomi ever since kindergarten and the two were very close.  Anaka was short around Hitomi's height, with long blonde hair and clear easy blue eyes.  She had a vixen build with fair skin and wore small, thin, framed glasses that didn't offset the sight of her at all.  Anaka wasn't really into the intense physical training that Hitomi took part in, but she preferred to train her brain instead.

                                "What are you doing today after school?" Anaka asked Hitomi.

"Oh well, the usual.  My after school workout but other than that I don't have anything planned."    

"You want to go to that new club tonight?"

"Sure, where is it?"

"There's this new club that opened up about a week ago called Club Hazard, it's not too far from our houses."

"Okay, what time do you want to leave?"

"I dunno, call me when you get done with your workout and we'll go."

                By this time their conversation had distracted the two and they almost walked past Hitomi's class.  Hitomi stopped abruptly and as she walked through the doorway, she turned and said goodbye to Anaka who headed towards the library.  Hitomi sat her bags down on her desk and took a seat.  There was still a few minutes before class started.  She looked around.  The rest of her classmates were still conversing, no doubt it was gossip.  Hitomi laid her head on the desk and closed her eyes.  Studying or lack there of had really worn her out last night.  She didn't know why she was so tired and could only attribute this to the fact that she knew she wasn't a morning person.  The ring of the tardy bell interrupted her worries as her classmates took their seats.  Their teacher, Dr. Hankins, wobbled into the room, pulling a cart on wheels that housed his books and other materials.  Dr. Hankins was a scraggily old man, with a escaping white head of hair and small wireframe glasses that barely hung onto his small nose.  His old out of style button up shirt made Hitomi laugh although she saw him everyday.  Hankins turned to the cart and fumbled through his papers.  "Good morning class," he mumbled as he pulled out some papers.  "Good morning Doctor," they replied in conditioned unison.  Hitomi shuffled though the papers in her backpack and pulled out last night's homework.  She knew he was going to ask for it but when he does always varies,  it's just the way he is.

                Hitomi's eyelids seemed to be forcing their way down and she laid her arms on the desk in front of her and rested her head on top of them.  She was really tired and decided that if she didn't try to get some sleep now, she wouldn't be able to stay awake for some of the more important classes later on that day.  As Hitomi laid there with her forehead on her folded arms, she tried to think about why she was so tired.  Then it hit her.  Her father had been pushing training her a lot lately, with more exercises, drills and repetitions, but she didn't seem to mind because she could keep up with his increased intensity.  "He must be doing this for my birthday," she thought to herself with a smile, since her eighteenth birthday was in five days.  Her parents always had a subtle way or celebrating her birthday.  They would always drop Hitomi little hints here and there, but never come out and tell her "Happy Birthday".  That's the way it always was and Hitomi was pretty much accustomed to it like that, because her friends knew of her parents way of celebrating and would throw her a party.

x x x x

                The day dragged on and finally lunch time slothed its way around the clock.  Hitomi went outside the cafeteria and sat on an unoccupied bench.  Usually, her and Anaka sat at the bench together to eat, discussing, giggling the way girls do.  Anaka showed up on time, as usual, carrying her lunch.  Hitomi already had her lunch laid out on her lap as she took bites out of an apple.  Anaka sat down next to her, and opened the brown paper bag that her lunch was carried in.  Taking the food out, she laid the paper bag flat on her lap and placed the food on top of it.  They began to talk about the events of the day, or at least what had happened so far.  Anaka let out a sigh of disappointment.

                "What?" Hitomi asked, "do you have a bunch of homework?"

                                "No," Anaka replied, "there's this boy…"

                Hitomi realized it wasn't a sigh of disappointment.

                                "Oh?" Hitomi said in an inquiring tone, "who is it?"

"I don't know his name, he just transferred from America, but he's in my math class and he's really cute."    

Hitomi smiled as she chewed on her apple and shook it at Anaka.

"Don't go off and get into boy trouble now," she playfully warned.

Anaka rolled her eyes. "Yes mother," she replied.

They continued to carry on a normal high-school girl's conversation, Hitomi normally avoiding conversations focused around her physical training with her father, unless someone asked about it.  Hitomi enjoyed Anaka's company. Anaka enjoyed Hitomi's company.  They both knew this and because of all the best and worst they had been through together they were very close friends.  It was very difficult for one to go out somewhere  without the other, the two had a bond on the level of siblings, twins almost.  Whenever one would one would have a problem, the other quickly volunteered, offering their services as a just a school tutor or a shoulder to cry on; though the latter rarely happened to Hitomi.  It was hard to believe she was still a normal girl after all the disciplinary work her father forced on her, forcing her to normally suppress her emotions saying they would only hinder her progress as being the most powerful fighter she could be.   They giggled, and laughed conversing about school, relationships and whatnot, carrying on in general older teenage style. Before they knew it lunch was over and they had to continue their daily work as students to the campus to which they dedicated the height of their childhood.  

x x x x

                The school finally came to a close and when it finally let out Hitomi rushed home to begin practicing.  After her workout she rushed herself into her room to take a shower.  A few minutes later Hitomi emerged, quickly dressed herself and scrambled to find her parents.  She found them in the living room having a conversation over something.  Hitomi stood between them to get their attention.

                                "What is it Hitomi-chan?" her mother asked.

                                "Mother, can I go out to a new dance club tonight with Anaka?" Hitomi asked.

                                "Who's Anaka?" Hans asked Hitomi.

Hitomi gave him a  disappointed look.

                                "It's her friend from school," Maki informed him.

                                "I didn't know you have friends," Hans exclaimed sounding surprised.

"Well, we've only known each other for ten years," Hitomi told him, stressing the fact that a decade was a long time to her.

"She's a good girl," Maki reassured him.

Hans thought about it for a minute and after careful deliberation he delivered a verdict.

                                "Okay," Hans said to her," you can go, just don't be out too late."

"Arigato," Hitomi said as she bowed to her father and rushed out to her room almost tripping over a table on the way out.

Inside her room she picked up the phone and dialed Anaka's phone number.  

                                "Hello?" Anaka answered the phone.

                                "Hey Anaka, it's Hitomi."

                                "Oh hey! What's going on?"

"I'm going to change into some clothes now, so make your way over here and I should be done by the time you get here."

                Hitomi hung up the phone and rummaged through her closet to find something to wear.  Sliding some shirts around, she pulled out a black, sleeveless tight fitting top with spaghetti straps.  Centered on the chest of the shirt was a red biohazard symbol appropriately labeled "biohazard" under the sign.  On the back of shirt across the lower shoulders, was a barcode, unknown was it's meaning or purpose.  She reached back into her closet and pulled out a pair of blue jeans.  Hitomi slipped off the pair of pajama pants she had thrown on in a hurry after getting out of the shower and pulled on the jeans.  They were a dark blue color, studded with black metal buttons down each outside seam of the pants.  She pulled the loose t-shirt off over her head, struggled to get the into the tight fitting shirt with spaghetti straps and pulled the bottom of it over the top of her jeans.  Hitomi looked herself over in the morrow and giggled at the sight of the biohazard sign as it was distorted by her bust.  Content with the way she looked she went over to the nightstand by her bed.  Opening a small lockbox that sat on the nightstand, she pulled out a wad of bills and stuffed them into her right pants pocket.

                Hitomi's parents didn't give her allowance.  And her mother would not allow her to get a job so her only source of income was when her parents voluntarily gave her some money, they always gave her too much and when she tried to give it back to them they always told her to keep it.  She fixed her hair into something she was happy with and made her way into the living room wait for Anaka.  The doorbell rang and Hitomi answered the door.  Anaka stood in the doorway, her white shirt and light blue jeans backlit by the porch light on the entryway.  

                                "Ready to go?" Anaka asked.

"Yup," Hitomi replied as she stepped through, but turned around and faced into house again.

                                "Ikimasu[2]," Hitomi said as a reminder back into the house.

                                "Have a safe trip," she heard her mother reply in the same tone of voice.

                With her parents now aware she was leaving she shut the door and they began their journey to the club.

x x x x

                Fifteen minutes later the both stood in awe at a gigantic line into Club Hazard.  They took places in the line and looked around.  The line of people steadily moved inside the building as people flashed their identification cards to gain entry to the bouncer who stood next to the door with the composure of a drill sergeant.  Hitomi watched as people in front of her dug out their identifications and showed them to the bouncer who nodded with approval.  Hitomi searched her pockets for her ID.  She couldn't find it, and soon it would be their turn to present identification.  Anaka could see Hitomi's frantic pocket digging and her worried look.

                                "What's wrong?" she asked Hitomi.

"I—I can't find my ID," she said disappointed, because she knew what the consequences were for not having one.

"Should we go back and get it?"

"No, because by the time we get back, he might stop letting people in.  Besides I have a plan that might work."

                The line continued to advance, and when it was their turn to show who they were Anaka furnished her ID and started to go inside.  Hitomi tried to slink in with her, but a strong and sturdy hand grabbed her shoulder and prevented her from going any further.  

                                "Where's you ID?"  demanded the Drill Sergeant.

                                "I left it at home," she explained," but I'm seventeen."

                                "I don't' believe you," the Drill Sergeant replied, his serious expression unchanging.

"I am REALLY!" Hitomi stressed clasping the bouncer's hand and whining try to gain entry.

"You don't look a day over sixteen to me," said the six foot Drill Sergeant who dwarfed the little half-Japanese girl who was trying to coax her way in, beside him.  Hitomi pressed herself onto Drill Sergeant's arm.

"Pleeeease," she pleaded.

The Drill Sergeant stared at Hitomi's face, looking at her eyes, as if he knew what the eyes of a liar looked like and where comparing them with hers.  His expression did not changed as he squinted and  concentrated on her eyes.

"Alright," he said finally giving in. He motioned towards the with his head towards the entrance door, " but don't you cause no trouble."

"Thank you," she said happily as she stood up on her toes, pulled the Sergeant down towards her and kissed him on the cheek.

With her objective completed she hurried to meet up with Anaka who she could see was waiting for her inside the door. 

x x x x

                Inside the fog filled room there was a lot of movement.  Colored spotlights raced across the floow, changing the face of the crowd from red to blue then darkness as the light left them.  A smooth flowing techno beat filled the room as bodies jostiled about in unorganized movement.  

                Hitomi and Anaka waded through the crowds of people, making their way over the bar.  They sat down and were served by a bartender.  

                                "You girls want somethin' ?" he asked.

                                "I'll share a basked of fries with you," Hitomi told Anaka.

                                "Alright."

"Okay, so I need one basket of fries and a Coke," Hitomi told the bartender.  Anaka got his attention and told him what she wanted, "I want a Pepsi."

The bartender nodded in acknowledgement and disappeared.  A minute later he returned with their drinks.  Passing them out accordingly he said ," Your fries will be out in a few." Hitomi nodded and the bartender went to help other people who were seated.  The music continued to flow smoothly throughout the club filling it with a relaxing easy aura.  Colored lights and glow sticks flickered through the sea of people creating an easy strobe light effect, but the dark lighting inside gave it more of a sci-fi movie feeling.  Hitomi and Anaka continued their conversation loosing track of time.  The bartender got their attention by setting the basket of fries in front of them.  Hitomi dug into her pocket and pulled out the wad of bills.  "How much do I owe you?" she asked.  "I'll give you a discount on this one cutey, this one's on me."  She smiled to the bartender, "Thank you," she said, for lack of anything more to say.  He turned back around and continued working.  Hitomi got this a lot.  It must be some secret sub-conscious charm she had on guys.  She used this to her advantage.  Just as she had charmed her way into the club.  The commenced to devouring the fries and Anaka looked at Hitomi.

                "You're a crafty one, you," she said in an old woman's voice shaking a fry accusingly at Hitomi.  They giggled.  "I can't help it," Hitomi said half giggling, "it's just the way I am, literally."        

x x x x

                Hitomi and Anaka moved to the dance floor.  It was getting late; possibly.  Hitomi had lost track of time when she got inside the club and had no way of knowing exactly how much time had passed.  As the music flowed they lost themselves in the excitement of the club.

                A high pitched scream interrupted their dancing.  Everyone turned and looked in the direction of the shriek but because of Hitomi's stature all she could see was the backs of heads.  "What happened?" Hitomi asked as she nudged Anaka.  "I dunno," Anaka replied, "maybe we should go see."  Hitomi and Anaka pushed their way to the front of the crowd.  They were small enough that it was easy for them to nudge people aside, enough for them to fit through.  After they fought their way to the front of the crowd they saw what was happening.  A figure was collapsed on the ground on its hands and knees, breathing heavily.  It was clear to Hitomi and Anaka that this person was in pain and should be helped, yet a mystery to them why no one was helping out this person.  "Hey, are you okay?" Anaka asked, still keeping her distance with the rest of the crowd.  The figure's only response was a heavy breathing.  "Hey," Anaka said again as she approached the figure cautiously with Hitomi behind her, "are you alright?"  The crowd seemed to fade further back as they approached.  The figure, which they could now make out to be a man with a large trench coat, his head held lazily towards the ground was hunched over on his hands and knees.  "Do you need some help?" Hitomi asked.  The man's response was a dry heaving and vomiting onto the floor.  Anaka took a step back in repulse, but them approached him and placed her hand on his shoulder.  The man looked up, still on his hands and knees.  Hitomi could see his face was sweaty and drool hung off his mouth.  He had a dazed and glassy look on his face, his eyes quickly darted back and forth between Anaka, Hitomi, and the quickly accumulating crowd.  They could clearly tell that he was whacked out on something.  

                                "Stay right here," Anaka cooed, "I'm going to get you some help."

He replied with a heavy breathing.

                                "Stay back," he said "stay back, Angel of Death."

                                "Angel of Death?" Anaka replied softly.

                                "You're the Angel of Death, coming to get me…" he trailed off.

Anaka bent over to get a look at his face, it was dark and the lighting in the club didn't help.             

                                "Stay away from me!" he yelled as he tried to shake her shoulder from him.  Hitomi could see that things weren't developing well and approached Anaka from behind.  

                                "I said stay back!" the man yelled deliriously shying away from Anaka and the approaching Hitomi.  He reached into the pocket of his trenchcoat and pulled out a small handgun.  With the last of his strength he held it out towards Anaka.

                                "You won't take me!" he screamed, "I won't die!"

                Anaka fell backwards onto her elbows in surprise and fear.  Hitomi gently bumped her legs into Anaka's back to let her know she was behind her.  She blindly gripped Hitomi's leg with her left hand in fear.  "ANGEL OF DEATH!!" the man screamed, the gun shaking from his unstable state.  Hitomi looked down at Anaka, and could tell that fear had overcome her.  Just looking at Anaka's body shaking from fear and her tight grip on Hitomi's leg was so tight, almost to the point to where it was painful.  "Get behind me," Hitomi told her.  Anaka scrambled to put some distance between herself and the delirious person.  She hid behind Hitomi's legs like a scared child to its mother and poked her head out the side.  The man looked up to Hitomi with a bewildered look. 

                                "What are you doing!" he screamed, "don't you know she's the Angel of Death!?"

                                "No she isn't," Hitomi told him, "look closer."

                                "She's the ANGEL OF DEATH! Why are you protecting her?"

The man's expression changed from to surprise as if he had just learned some secret of the universe.  

                                "I SEE!" he screamed, "You're with the Angel of Death!"

Anaka tugged on Hitomi's pants leg, "Uhhh…Hitomi, shouldn't you do something?"  Hitomi kneeled on the floor and attempted to slowly coax her way toward the gun, as if petting a strange dog.  

                The man seemed to realize what was happening.  He quickly pulled the gun away and aimed it towards Anaka, between Hitomi's legs. "DIE ANGEL OF DEATH!"  Hitomi quickly pushed the gun aside when she realized he was going to shoot.  As she pushed it away, it fired.  The thump of the gasses rushing out of the barrel threw Hitomi back a little, but she stopped herself from falling over by putting her hands out behind her.  Quickly regaining her balance she jerked the gun out of the man's hand.  As he tried to reach for it Hitomi hit him on the side of his head with the bottom end of the handle.  The man's limp body fell limp on the floor and Hitomi tossed the gun on top his body.  She quickly glanced herself over and everything seemed to be in order.  Hitomi looked behind her to check up on Anaka.  However, Anaka was not fine.  Anaka lay on her back on the floor, slowly moving, making low moaning sounds.  "Anaka?" Hitomi asked frantically, "what's wrong?"  Anaka moaned and moved her hands over her side.  Hitomi scrambled to her aid, but her right collapsed and pinched in intense pain.  She grabbed her leg and pulled herself over to Anaka.  "Anaka? Are you alright?"  Hitomi asked, her voice shaking from fear.  Anaka clutched her side and started to cry.  Hitomi looked at her, tears were rolling down Anaka's face.  "Let me see,"  Hitomi said clasping Anaka's hands and slowly moving them aside.  Anaka let out a squeal of pain and clenched her teeth together while the tears continued to flow down her face.

                Hitomi looked at the spot where Anaka had held her hands and saw what she had been hiding.  Anaka's clothing around her left side was ripped and stained red, around the size of a quarter and was quickly expanding.  Hitomi realized she had been shot.  Anaka's white shirt was quickly becoming red and Hitomi knew she had to do something quick.  She grabbed the bottom of her blood soaked shirt and slowly peeled it back, enough to reveal the wound.  She stared at the bullethole; the evidence that a ferocious projectile had forced its way into Anaka's body and was doing severe damage.  It's wasn't hard to make the would even in the dark of the club.  The blood around it was warm and shimmered in the light.  It flowed out of the small circular hole in her side, some absorbed by her clothes the rest pooled on the floor.  Anaka reached up and grabbed Hitomi's shoulder and Hitomi looked at her.  Anaka's face was filled with fear, her mouth moving but no words came out.                

"It¾ it hurts," Anaka studdered and started to cry again.  Hitomi took her hand and squeezed it. 

"Anaka," she cried, "it's okay, help is coming."

"GET SOME HELP!" Hitomi screamed into the crowd, but no one moved.  

"I have to do something," Hitomi said to herself.  She quickly slipped off her shoe from the leg that wasn't in pain and pulled off her sock.

"Hold on Anaka," she told her.

Hitomi bunched up the sock and placed it on top of the bullet hole, holding it there with both hands.  Anaka could feel something was going to happen.  She reached up and grabbed Hitomi's upper arm that held the temporary bandage in place.  "This is going to hurt," Hitomi told her.  Anaka tightened her grip on Hitomi's arm making it hurt.  "I have to put pressure on it to slow the bleeding."  "I want to see," Anaka squeezed out and tried to raise her head to see the wound.  "No," Hitomi told her, "lay down and brace yourself."  Anaka put her head back down on the floor and squeezed Hitomi's arm.  Hitomi took a deep breath and pushed down on the makeshift bandage.  

                The terrifying, painful scream that filled Hitomi's ears that came from Anaka was something she would never forget.  Hitomi's arm pained as Anaka tighten her grip on her arm, digging her nails into it.

                Time slowed to a crawl as she tried to doctor Anaka.  Her constant cries and whines pained Hitomi even more than her right leg.  The wound's bleeding didn't seem to slow down, much less show any signs of stopping.  Anaka laid there on the floor, faced the ceiling with her eyes closed, her breathing irregular.  Hitomi tried to get her attention by calling out her name.  Anaka didn't respond.  She resorted to yelling her name to get her attention.  She slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to look at Hitomi.  "Look at me," Hitomi told Anaka, "concentrate on me."  The crowd had enclosed around them, but no one was brave enough to step forward and help the two who needed it most.  Hitomi folded her left leg under her and easily pulled Anaka's body up to her to cradle her.  As Hitomi lifted her, Anaka let out gasps and squeals of pain.  She cradled Anaka in her arms like a mother.  Anaka reached up and put her arm around Hitomi's neck tears flowing down her face.  "It's alright," Hitomi reassured her, "help is coming."  Hitomi looked at Anaka; Anaka's eyes kept wandering off.  "It's ok," Anaka told her, "it doesn't hurt anymore."  

                   Hitomi tried to cradle Anaka in her arms as best she could.  When the paramedic arrived, he tried to pull her from Hitomi, but she wouldn't let go.  The medic knelt next to Hitomi and felt Anaka's neck for a pulse.  "Here," he said, "lay her down."  She gently lowered Anaka onto the floor of the club amongst a pool of blood.  The second paramedic came over to Hitomi.  "Are you okay?"  She thought about the question for a second and nodded her head. 

                                "My leg hurts, but I'll be okay."

                                "Where?"

Hitomi grabbed her leg.

                                "Right around here."

The medic pulled a flashlight from his belt and turned it on.  Illuminating Hitomi's leg with the giant Maglight, she saw a section of her pants shimmered with a red liquid.  "This looks bad," the medic told her, "how'd you get this?"  "I….I dunno," Hitomi chocked out, she was surprised herself.  Upon further examination with the flashlight they discovered what happened.  When the gunman shot, the bullet deflected off one of the metal buttons that studded the outside seam of her pantlegs, forcing the button into her leg.  But Hitomi didn't want to worry about that now. Anaka was more important to her.  She looked at Anaka as more EMS personnel pushed their way through the crowd.  EMS personnel crowded Hitomi. They all began doing things, and Hitomi quickly paniced and tried to go to Anaka. She reached out to her, but it was too late.   

"Hey shorty, wake up.  C'mon shorty, we have stuff to do."

                Hitomi snapped out of her dream state to and opened her eyes to see Lee standing over her.  "Get up," he said, "there's lots to be done."  Hitomi, startled by her rude awakening, jolted in surprise, lost her balance and fell off the couch.  She rubbed her head and looked up at Lee.  "Wha'd you do that for?"  she whined.  "Time to get up," he told her, "things need to be done."

                                "Like what?"

                                "The dishes."

                                "That's all?"

                                "Clothes."

                                "And?"

                                "Now you're asking too many questions, just get up and start working."

                Hitomi picked herself up and with the blanket in her right hand trudged like a zombie into Lee's room, throwing the blanket on his bed.  She continued her undead stumble into the bathroom where Hitomi commenced her instinctive hour long feminine grooming routine.  Hitomi undressed herself and stepped into the shower.  Not letting the water warm up she turned it on and the cold water rushed out of the showerhead and snapped her awake even thought it wasn't all that cold.  Once awake, she put her head under  it and let the stream of water hit the top of her head, flow around it, down her chin and off into the tub.  Relaxing, she thought about her disturbing dream and of Anaka.  Next month would make it one year since that night in the club.  She had tried real hard to forget about that night, but not forget about Anaka.  

                Hitomi reached for the soap, and as she lathered herself,  she noticed the dime-sized scar on her right thigh.  Hitomi remembered how she had gotten that scar.  When the drugged out gunman had shot at Anaka in the club the bullet grazed her pants, clipping one of the black buttons that studded the leg of her jeans.  The button had been shoved into her leg by the bullet, but Hitomi ignored it when it happened because she was on an adrenaline rush.  The paramedics discovered her wound but wanted to take her to the emergency room to have it removed.  Hitomi wanted to go with Anaka, not to surgery.  She opened the paramedics toolkit and pulled out a knife and a pair of surgical pliers.  Before the paramedics could stop her, she cut off her right pant leg, secured the pliers to the embedded button, braced herself and pulled it out.

                As she washed her hair, Hitomi thought of what had to be done when she got out of the shower.  She had to go back to work later, or as much as she knew she was going back to work later.  It might be dangerous to try and go back to work, but Hitomi was looking forward to a good one-on-one fight.  Not since she had arrived from Japan had Hitomi had a good fight.  As she finished rinsing off her body she threw back the shower curtain and stepped out.  Her feet found and off-white bathroom floor mat and her wet body dripped water on it, from her nose, hair and fingertips.  Looking around in the small steam filled bathroom she searched for a towel sized enough to wrap herself in.  Her search unyielding, she cracked open the bathroom door and yelled to Lee.

                                "Lee? Where are the towels?"

                                "Under the sink," a reply came from Lee's living room.  

Hitomi shut the door to begin another search, but in a more specific area; under the sink. 

"I'll bring you a warm one," Lee said pulling a towel out of the dryer to bring to Hitomi, however, she didn't hear him because she had already shut the door and started her second search.  

                Hitomi being victorious in her towel hunt, pulled out a big soft red towel and surrounded herself with it.  She unlocked the door and cautiously walked into Lee's room with the towel around her in search of some clothes to wear.  Unknowing that Hitomi had already found a towel, Lee opened the door to his bedroom and casually stepped inside to find the bathroom door open emitting steam and a surprised Hitomi, wrapped in a red towel her body glistening with water, staring at him.  Lee stopped his eyes fixed on her.  Here this girl was again in his bedroom wrapped in a towel.  He stood in awe at this sight.  Lee was convinced she was an angel, with the light from his bedroom window shining through, shimmering off her skin; that is until she spoke.  By this time Hitomi had snapped back to reality, her surprise turned to anger.  Lee however was still in his heaven-struck phase.  "Lee?" Hitomi called his name, but he did not react.  "Lee, what are you doing?" she asked him, but when she still got no response Hitomi got a little angry.  "LEE! Get the hell out!" Lee snapped back to life, "Erm, well…I….towel!" he sputtered shoving the towel out in front of him.  Turning and slowly walking towards the door , Lee was pelted in the back of the head by Hitomi's size 6 ½ shoe.  He slowly turned around and looked at her.  She still had that angelic glow.

"BAKA!"

  


* * *

[1] Morgen¾ my German is rusty, but this means "Good Morning"

[2] Ikimasu- A Japanese phrase generally said at the beginning of a trip


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 

                Hitomi sat on the living room couch.  Her arms were folded behind her, her head tilted back staring at the ceiling.  Most of the chores had been finished, Lee was just straightening up the place.  He came over and sat down next to her, his size displacing the couch and Hitomi's balance.  She looked at him, his tall, dark face was stressed and drawn out; Lee looked very tired.  "What's wrong?" she asked, "didn't you get enough sleep last night?"  Lee nodded and laid his head on the back of the couch and closed his eyes.  "Yeah, I slept enough, I'm just running myself ragged worrying…" he trailed off.

                                "Awww, Lee-chan, worried about me?"

"I mean, don't get me wrong, any guy would stop and help out a beautiful girl such as yourself.  Although, you probably wouldn't have needed my help if you hadn't of gotten knocked out by the gas.  You were holding your own back there, where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"Well," Hitomi paused as she thought for a second, "well, my father has taught me since I was a little girl.  We never had much money and so my father taught two karate dojos in Germany."

"Germany? Why do you look and speak Japanese, beside the brown hair and blue eyes."

Hitomi smirked a little.

"Well, I'm sort of a genetic anomaly, why is it that I have brown hair and blue eyes?  My mother is Japanese and I did live in Japan for a year, but my mom taught me Japanese in Germany.  We spoke Japanese and German at home for the most part."

"And so your father taught you Karate and your mother taught you Japanese?"

"Um humm."

"I see."

"Lee what about you?  What are you doing here in California, you're Chinese aren't you?"

"Yeah, I was brought here at an early age, but I don't remember getting here or my parents."

"Oh?"  Hitomi seemed intrigued.  

"Yeah, but I prefer to leave out the details."

"Why?"

"I can't say."

"Awww c'mon Lee-chan, don't you trust me?"

"Not enough, not yet."

                Hitomi was disappointed.  Not mad that Lee didn't trust her, just disappointed.  She looked at him, his head was still resting on the couch.  Hitomi pouted her lips as a show of her disappointment and Lee could see her expression in the corner of his eye and smiled on the inside though his facial expression did not change.  "Sorry shorty, maybe when I feel like it," he said.  Hitomi gave up.  Changing the subject she said, "Lee, what do we have to do today?"  "Well, I don't know," he replied, "we probably should go check up with Adams later." Their conversation was cut short by the growling of Hitomi's stomach.  It was louder than normal, enough for her to feel it and Lee to hear it.  She looked at her midsection that was exposed by  her short white shirt.  Grabbing it, she looked at Lee with a face about to cry, like a child that had just lost her most precious possession.

                                "You want some breakfast?" Lee asked with a raised eyebrow.

                                "Um humm."

                                "Well then," he said casually, "can't keep a girl from what she wants," and he rose from the couch.  Hitomi smiled at him in gratitude.  He had been really nice to her since that night in the club.  She liked being pampered like this, it had been a long time since anyone had treated her like this.  Her father never spoiled her and her mother stopped, at the request of her father, when Hitomi decided to take up karate.  

                                "Here."

Hitomi looked up to see a red apple float her direction.  She impulsively reached out and caught it.  "Eat that," he told her and she looked at the apple in disappointment, "I know it's not much, but there isn't enough food here for one person, much less two people.  I need to go shopping.  Might as well go in a minute."  Hitomi saw her chance to get something into Lee's apartment besides the microwave meals, TV dinners, and junk food.

                                "Can I go?" she asked.

He looked at her, thinking.

                                "Erm, well…"

                                "Pleeeeese," she pleaded.

"Well alright, but stay with me.  I don't want any street punks trying to pick a fight with you."

"Hai."

"Anyway, lets get going," Lee said as he walked out the door.

"W-Wait for me," Hitomi stammered as she rushed to get up from the couch and out the door.

x x x x 

Walking down the street, Hitomi looked around and was immersed in the buildings and constructions of California.  There was nothing like this is Germany and Japan.  It was the beginning of the afternoon and the streets were filled with sidewalk vendors, people conversing and congregating and people hurrying around.  Hitomi was puzzled as to why Lee didn't drive, it seemed like everyone else did.

                                "Lee?" she asked, "don't you own a car?"

                                "No."

                                "Why not?"

                                "Can't afford it."

                                "Oh."

They continued walking, Hitomi stayed next to Lee's side clung to his arm.  Lee didn't mind that the little girl clung to his arm like a leech, he was more worried about her safety than anything else.

                                "How much further do we have to go?" Hitomi asked him.

                                "Why?" Lee asked sounding annoyed, "your feet getting tired?"

                                "No, I just wanted to know."

                                "We're almost there."

Turning the corner they came to a small grocery in the middle of downtown.  Looking at the sign above the door, Hitomi's eyes lit up with delight.  "Lee!" she exclaimed, "I didn't know you went to a Japanese grocery!"  "Well," he began to explain himself, "I know the owners, they're good people and their prices are fair enough."  Hitomi bounced with delight.  "Oooooo! Let's go inside!" she said tugging on Lee's arm.  Lee rolled his eyes, "Alright, alright."  Hitomi pushed the door open.  "Konnichiwa![1]" she said as she entered. Alerting the cashier by the door to her presence she was greeted with the same.

                Lee walked inside and stopped at the cashier.  "Is Genzo here?" he asked.  The cashier was a Japanese woman, with straight black hair, short in height compared to Lee but probably closer to Hitomi's age.  She nodded and pointed towards a far corner of the store.  Lee started walking towards the direction in which he had been directed, but stopped when he realized he was short one person.  He looked over his shoulder to see Hitomi bowing to the cashier and the cashier respectfully returning her bow.  

                Hitomi looked up to see Lee stopped, waiting for her, but quickly loosing his patience.  She quickly caught up to him and stood to  his right.  She looked up to him and could tell his serious face was a little angry.

                                "I was apologizing for you.," she explained.

                                "Huh?"

                "It was rude for you to just was off like that."

                "So.  I do it all the time."

                                "But it's rude," she emphasized.

                                "Sorry."

To cut her scolding short, Lee continued his walk to the corner where he found a door.  Hitomi caught up to him, a little disgruntled at the fact she was trying to ignore her.  Lee stopped in front of the door and looked at it.  The metal slab with a handle was dented in places, it's paint chipped or peeling.  It looked more like a vault than a door.  At the height of Lee's shoulders the door bore a peep-slit, a rectangular hole in the door, that was covered from the inside to prevent people from spying.  Lee brought up his hand, and loosely making a fist he knocked on the door with the backside of his hand.  "Genzo, it's me," he said.  For a while nothing happened.  Then the peep-slit on the door squeaked upward.  

                "Lee? Is that you," asked the voice of an aged man.

                "Yo Genzo.  Can we talk?"  

                "Sure, sure," replied the old man as his eyes disappeared from the peep-slit.  They waited for a moment and the door handle turned with a slight thunk it squeaked open.  It was like the door really was a door to a safe or vault.  In the doorway stood an old Japanese man.  He had a round head of little white hair and a smoking pipe in his mouth.  He was short compared to Lee closer to Hitomi's height.  He was overjoyed to see Lee, but when he noticed the figure half hiding, half cowering behind him, his facial expression changed from joy to suspicion.  He looked at Lee, his face searching for an explanation.  Lee knew what he wanted and nudged Hitomi with his elbow.  

                Genzo adjusted the pipe in his mouth with his teeth and tongue.  It bounced up and down while sliding to the left corner of his mouth and remained stationary.  Hitomi shyly stepped out from behind Lee, her hands behind her back.  He studied Hitomi carefully.  Genzo looked her up and down, then concentrated on her face.  He squinted his eyes and studied her face, as if it told her personality.  Hitomi, felt pressured and embarrassed, and her head wondered slightly down and to the right, her eyes to the floor.  She decided it would be in her best interest to be as respectful as possible to Genzo.  Bowing, she stuttered, "B-Barrens Hitomi desu.  Doozo yoroshiku.[2]"  Genzo's facial expression did not change as Hitomi introduced herself in a respectful, formal Japanese greeting.  He was however surprised that the girl showed him respect where Lee did not, even though Lee and he were very close.  A slight smirk formed on the corner of his mouth opposite the smoking pipe.  "Come in," he said turning and walking into the room that was hazy and filled with pipe smoke.  Its sharp aroma stung Hitomi's nose a little.  Upon entering the room she could see that it was large and dimly lit and foggy due to the smoke.  The followed Genzo to a couch aligned against the wall with a chair across from the couch with a small table next to it.  Genzo took a seat in the chair across from the couch and Lee sat in the couch.  Hitomi followed his lead and took a seat next to Lee on his left.  Lee sprawled himself out on the couch and relaxed, like he did at home, but Hitomi was a little more cautious.  She looked around the room with her legs together and he hands folded in her lap.  Genzo adjusted himself in the seat folding this legs into a figure four.  He leaned back in the chair and took the pipe from his mouth and placed it on the table.  Once everyone had gotten comfortable he started the conversion.

                                "Go ahead Lee," he said.

                                "I just stopped by to say 'hi' but I also need to ask you a few questions."

"Okay, but first I'll try to be a good host. Are you hungry?  Do you want something to eat?"

Hitomi heard the talk of food, shifted her position in the couch and stared at her stomach.

                                "No thanks," he replied, "I'll pick up some stuff on the way out."

                                "I see.  Does your girlfriend want something?"

Hitomi lifted her head in surprise.  She could feel her face getting hot and knew it was turning a shade of crimson.  She was too embarrassed to try and defend herself.  Besides, it would be rude to correct Genzo; he was her elder and she must show respect to him.  Lee took the initiative.

                                "I do believe she would like something," he said, "however, she isn't my girlfriend."

"Oh?" Genzo was apparently surprised. "I was hoping you had found someone.  What happened to that Leifang girl that used to follow you around like a lost puppy?"

"I don't know what Leifang is up to, I haven't seen her in a while.  Shorty here is a – erm, friend from work."

"So, that what they call them now-a-days."

"No!" Lee said trying to keep from laughing.  

He hoped Hitomi didn't know what they were talking about, but she probably did.  Lee continued.

"She's been having some having some trouble so she's staying at my place till things get sorted out."

Genzo took another quick look at Hitomi.  She didn't look like Lee's girlfriend.  Well, he knew that Lee's type of girl was one that could fight, pick up and throw cars, and not talk back.  Lee was weird like that, but he generally didn't show too much public interest in girls.  Besides, this one looked too sweet and innocent for something Lee would fall for; she looked like she should still be in school.  

"How old are you?" Genzo asked her.

"Eighteen."

She was only two years younger than Lee, it wasn't that absurd to think that they were together.

"I see. Do you want something to eat?"

This was the chance Hitomi was waiting for and she nodded her head.  "Okay," he said raising from his seat, "follow me."  Hitomi and Lee followed Genzo to a bar towards the back of the room.  Lee took a seat at the bar, Hitomi sat next to him.  Genzo went behind the bar, bent down and Hitomi could hear a refrigerator door open.  Genzo appeared with a glass and set in front of Hitomi while pulling up a half gallon jug of orange juice with the other hand and filling the glass.  He bent down behind the bar again and came up with a carton of eggs and a frying pan.

                                "You'll eat eggs, won't you?"  he asked Hitomi.

                                "Hai."

Genzo proceeded to start the oven next to him and crack two eggs into the pan.  Lee spoke up, "Genzo I'm gonna ask you some _hard_ questions."

                                "Can we talk about this in front of her?"

                                "It concerns her."

                                "Alright, go ahead."

                                "How is Red 32 funded?"

                                "Huh?"

                                "Who funds Red 32?"

                                "Why Lee?  Are you planning to take on the syndicate all by yourself?"

"No, but Short Stuff here pissed off one of their little gangs and now the whole package is out for her blood."

Genzo took another look at Hitomi's face.  He had seen his share of "wolfs in sheep's clothing" in the past, but it was a mystery to him why one of West Coast's largest crime and smuggling rings would be after this little high school girl.  When he had finished cooking the eggs Genzo placed the entire pan in front of Hitomi and she looked at the it in surprise.  He handed her a pair of chopsticks and she took them while looking at the pan as if she was overwhelmed.  

                                "Anoo…[3]" she said shyly.

                                "Eat them out of the pan," Genzo told her, sensing her confusion, "less clean up."

Turning back to Lee, they continued their conversation.             

                                "So what do you want to know about Red 32?"

                                "Well, is there some way to get them off her back?"

"Lee," Genzo paused with a sigh, "I got out of the game a long time ago.  I could try and talk something out for you with what little power I have left, but I doubt I can do anything.  But, I'll do it for you," he paused for a second, "and for your pretty friend over here."

                Hitomi heard his comment, looked up to him and smiled.  Her infamous "girlish charm" at work again.  It wasn't like she was trying to be cute, it's just the way she normally was.  It was gift bestowed on her by her parents, unknowing at the time that it would be this powerful.  Since she was so used to it, she didn't really pay much attention to them other than smile and thank them.  She knew it was kind of rude, but Hitomi really didn't want anything to do with them; and if they knew she was training to be a karate expert they probably wouldn't want anything to do with her.  This charm more or less subconsciously affected most men, well most of them it seemed, except Lee.  He called her names, complimented her once; probably because he had seen her in a towel, but other than that, he usually kept a serious mood.

                Hitomi figured whatever they were talking about, it was some sort of smuggling ring or mob or something like that that operated on the opposite side of the law.  She thought it best to keep her mouth shut, and just do what she was told.  Genzo turned and looked at Hitomi.  He was puzzled as to why one of the largest smuggling rings would be after one, seemingly harmless little girl.  It made no sense to him, so he decided to try and find out.

                                "What did you do to them?" he asked Hitomi.

                                "Well, they tried to mug me."

"Yes, in the game, it happens.  Street punks pick on whoever they want just because they can.  But that doesn't explain why they're after you."

"Well…" she paused, not knowing if she should tell Genzo or not why they were after her.  She wasn't too sure herself.  Hitomi looked at Lee for some sort of sign as to if it would be okay to answer Genzo.  Lee nodded, "Go ahead."  Hitomi continued with her explanation.  

"I threw one guy through a car door window,"  she grinned to herself, "he didn't like that too much."

Genzo looked at Hitomi with surprise and to Lee for confirmation as if the story didn't really happen.

"She didn't tell me that," Lee said, "but it must be true, 'cause they followed her to The Shakedown and tried to take her out in the club."

"They must really have a thing for you," Genzo said jokingly to Hitomi.

She giggled, "I seem to have the effect on guys."

x x x x

                "Here Lee, do you want one?" Hitomi asked him while holding out a small rod shaped object towards him.

                                "What's that?" he asked quickly glancing at it.

                                "It's Pocky."

                                "What's that?"

                                "Well, it's sort of a thin cookie stick dipped in chocolate."

"That's alright," he said, "I'm really not…" but before he could finish his protest Hitomi cut him short by shoving one in his mouth.  "See? Isn't it good?" she said as if she had just invented the product by accident.  Lee didn't respond while munching on the stick of Pocky that started at about pencil length but diminished and disappeared into his mouth.  They continued to back to Lee's apartment after having the discussion with Genzo, about what, Hitomi was still unclear.

                Lee lugged the groceries Hitomi had picked out, refusing to let him get his normal selection of frozen goods.  She however, carried a box of Pocky and munched on them while they walked.  She still stayed close to Lee, obeying his directions even though they both knew Hitomi was quite capable of defending herself.  Hitomi wasn't too worried about Red 32, to her it was just another chance to practice her training.  However, Lee seemed to be very worried, and he took precautionary measures to make sure she wasn't touched by Red 32.  She was clueless as to why he tried so hard to take care of her, but it didn't really matter; Hitomi had fun babying him because he was always so serious.  They continued their trek home, Lee remaining silent most of the trip, listening to Hitomi talking about something that didn't really matter to him, just useless girlish blather; only talking to answer her questions.  The personal questions he would answer, but the ones about Red 32, he kept quiet and didn't say anything.  She decided to stop bugging him about it.

                Lee stopped walking and placed one of the bags on the ground.  Hitomi wasn't paying attention; she was looking around at all the buildings, it was her first time in America, and almost tripped over Lee who was hunched over digging in the bag.  "Whatcha lookin' for?" she asked him.  Lee looked up at her, a big red apple in his mouth held there with his teeth.  "Afle," he muffled through the fruit.  He picked the bag back up and carrying them all in his left hand he slung them over his shoulder to get some leverage.  He bit the apple and it fell towards the ground, but before it could land he caught it about waist height.  Lee started to walk again with Hitomi but was stopped mid-stride by a familiar voice.  "Leeeee." A female voice seductively dragged out his name.  He turned around to see a woman standing behind Hitomi, while Hitomi looked at him with a puzzled face.  In front of him stood a five foot, four inch tall Chinese woman with two long braided pigtails behind her.  

                                "What do you want?"  Lee asked her with a mouthful of apple.

                                "Oh, nothing," she replied.

                                "Nothing? You always want something."

                                "Well…" she trailed off.

"Well what?  If your going to bother me, the least you can do is carry groceries," he said shoving a bag to her.

She yanked the bag from him.            

"Now," Lee began starting his walk again with Hitomi and the new addition behind him, "what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, I found an ad for a fighting tournament."

They turned the corner and the new girl noticed Hitomi had been walking with them.  Her unfamiliarity with Hitomi and Lee led her to some rather far out conclusions.  "Who's this Lee?" she asked as if Hitomi's presence offended her.  Lee was apparently think of something else when she asked him this question, for his mind was unaware that she had just asked him a question.  "Do what now?" he asked her.  She frowned and became frustrated with him.  "Lee, what were you thinking of so much that you can't pay attention to me?" she challenged.

"I was thinking about Shorty and how to keep her out of trouble."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" she and Hitomi cried in unison.

Lee wasn't expecting a reaction like that and he stopped and turned around to look at them.  Hitomi and the girl looked at Lee, then at each other and for a moment they stood there amazed at each other.  Hitomi started to laugh and the girl seemed to get angry.  "Well, introduce yourself," he ordered her.  The way he ordered her around reminded Hitomi of her father.  It made her happy and she smiled a little.  "Hitomi Barrens," she said, "pleased to meet you," and she presented her hand for a handshake.  She looked Hitomi over and didn't know that to think of this little girl with the pink headband and candy protruding from her mouth like an elongated cigarette; however, what she did know was that she didn't like her.  "Leifang," she said to identify herself and started walking again, ignoring Hitomi's friendly hand, passing up Lee as if she already knew where they were heading.  Lee looked at Hitomi, shrugged and hurried to catch up to Leifang while continuing to eat his apple.  Hitomi was stunned.  No one had ever shunned her like that before.  With her feelings hurt she stood there and wondered why this Leifang person had so much against her.  Maybe it was because Hitomi hadn't proven herself yet.  Maybe Leifang was a fighter, and she could prove herself on the field of battle.  Or could it be because Leifang had feelings for Lee and she thought Hitomi was getting in the way.  Her thoughts told her that the latter was the reason.  Hitomi was a little jealous.  She did have feelings for Lee, but they weren't that intense more like a friend, but he did save her life and the least she could do to repay him was try and take care of him.

                Hitomi realized she was being left behind.  She looked up just in time to see Lee and Leifang turn the corner.  Well, she knew where they were going, so it wasn't a big deal if they went ahead of her, she could find her way back.  To her left an alleyway extended in the direction of Lee's apartment, well she thought it was in that direction anyway.  Hitomi pulled a Pocky stick out and put it behind her ear like a pencil, stuffed the box in her back pocket and started a light jog down the alley.

                Lee casually walked towards his apartment, listening to Leifang chatter on about some new fighting tournament as he turned the apple core sideways and bit it in half.  He didn't have time for anymore tournaments, not with Hitomi around.  Besides, the last two he had been to he hadn't gotten very far; it always seemed to him like there were one-sided because the ninjas always won.  "Damn ninjas," he thought to himself.  He hated them.  They were fast, agile, and smart, very smart.  Especially in the tag team matches.  If two ninjas teamed up then no one stood a chance.  Lee remembered back to the last Dead Or Alive Tournament he had entered.  There were two ninjas, Kasumi and Hayabusa who had entered the tag matches as a team and he watched as they quickly and swiftly overpowered their opponent, that was quite a site.  He smirked to himself; it might be fun if him and Hitomi entered the tag matches, it would be worthwhile  to see how they worked as a team.  "Where is Hitomi?" he thought to himself.  He stopped and turned a full circle looking for her.  She was nowhere to be seen.  Lee cursed himself for not checking for her earlier and shoved the bags of groceries onto Leifang.  Digging into his pocket he pulled out the key to his apartment and placed it on top of the stack of groceries that already towered over her.  "Here," he rushed off, "take them to my place and make yourself at home!" as he finished his sentence while turning the corner in a full sprint.  "Humph, what makes her so special!?" Leifang thought to herself and staggered towards Lee's apartment with arms full of goods.

                Hitomi steadily jogged towards her destination or at least she thought it was towards Lee's apartment.  She had only been in California two weeks, but she figured she knew her way around pretty well.  Just for a bit of fun she jumped over the miscellaneous boxes that were strewn about her path in the alley, easily clearing them without breaking her stride.  Ahead of her a door opened and she tried to run around it, but as she widened her path three men stumbled out laughing and she brushed the closest one.  Losing her balance while on the run Hitomi stumbled to regain it or at least slow her fall to the cement somehow.  She got lucky and a clump of boxes in front of her caught her attention.  Using them as a bumper she not only slowed her fall but prevented herself from falling altogether.  Picking herself up, Hitomi brushed herself off and looked at the man she had run into.  His friends were picking him up off the concrete, looking at Hitomi with bewilderment, but the one she had knocked down seemed to be angry.  "Sorry," she said and continued on her jog down the alley.  "Hey!" one of them yelled in anger.  Hitomi didn't want to deal with this, not again.  Now she was in a full sprint down the alley and with the thud of more than just her shoes echoing off the walls of the alley; she knew she was being followed.  Ahead of her she could see the alley end and open up to the back of a commercial building.  As Hitomi passed the end of the alley and leaned inward to turn the corner an arm caught her around the waist and using her forward momentum, lifted her off the ground.  Afraid her followers had somehow caught her she screamed and flailed her arms wildly around, with her elbow catching him in the face.  A familiar voice groaned in pain and before she could protest, her arms were pinned to her side and found herself being set down on the ground.

                Hitomi looked up to see Lee looking at her angrily.  "Sorry," she said shyly twiddling her fingers.  She could see his face was turning a shade of red as the blood rushed to where she had accidentally hit him.  Hearing the footsteps of followers growing louder she turned and looked at the alley.  Lee, puzzled as to what she was looking for, looked in the same general direction.  The three turned the corner to see Lee looking at them and Hitomi behind him.  They stopped and looked at him then to one another, discussing among themselves.  One of them stepped forward, "Hey, aren't you Genzo's boy?"  Lee took a step back in surprise and assumed a fighting form, bouncing lightly back and forth from foot to foot until finally settling into a stance.  Two of the men took a step back and pulled out handguns, the were apparently not your normal citizens.  Hitomi had only been this afraid one before.  She slowly backed up and looked at Lee.  He didn't seem to be afraid at all.  The three attackers stood shoulder to shoulder with the two on the ends with their guns drawn.  It didn't matter to Lee, he had gotten out of bigger messes than this before.  He decided to make quick work of these street punks.

                Starting the one on the left, he lunged forward and grabbed the gun, being careful to keep it pointed away from him, and pulled it as hard as he could.  The man stumbled forward, he had a strong grip on the gun.  Lee stepped to the side and brought his left hand down on the top of the man's elbow causing it to fold.  With the right hand still on the gun he forced it upward and the man's skull made a hollow, fleshy thud as the metal gun collided with it.  Quickly Lee stripped the gun form his hands and shoved him into the man in the middle.  They both stumbled backwards, trying to regain their balance and Lee administered a swift kick to their midsection that sent them tumbling into the last man who was frantically trying to aim the gun at Lee without hitting the other two that were in his way.  The last man fell backwards and dropped the gun while trying to brace himself for the fall.  The three of them collapsed in on the ground in a defeated pile while the gun hit the ground and misfired.  Lee was too distracted by the bunch making a retreating scramble to hear Hitomi's scream.

                With the trouble gone, Lee turned around to find Hitomi grabbing her right shoulder, leaning against the alley wall with her left for support.  "Damn," Lee cursed under his breath, "the misfire must have caught her."  He rushed to her side, his heart wildly pumping the blood and adrenaline through his veins in feat that she was seriously injured.  "What happened?" he asked.  Hitomi whimpered in pain, which caused Lee to become a little more frantic.  "Hitomi? Hitomi, what happened!?" he asked again, lightly shaking her.  She moved her hand to reveal the underside of her palm and fingers.  They were stained red, as  well as her shirt where her hand had been.  Her brain had shut down mentally.  To her, everything seemed blurred and in slow motion.  Hitomi stared at Lee, oblivious to the events that had taken place, or the ones around her and Lee's pleading to get her attention.  

                Hitomi Looked at him, it was as if she was on drugs.  Her eyes were glazed over, he could tell she was spaced out and he didn't want her to loose consciousness so he had to keep her from bleeding too much.  He gently caressed her arm, working upward to the spot on the shoulder where it flowed the red liquid.  Digging into his pocket, Lee pulled out a small pocket knife and Hitomi looked at it, but gave no reaction as he cut away the sleeve on her shirt and pulled it off.  Hitomi's head slowly drooped down to look at the wound.  She watched as Lee examined it.  Bunching it up the sleeve he had cut off he wiped the blood away from the wound with it.  Hitomi flinched but made no audible tone as he worked.  What Lee saw relieved him.  The bullet had not completely hit her shoulder, but grazed it, leaving a nasty looking gash behind that bled ruthlessly. He cleaned the wide cut but as soon as he wiped it clean it filled with blood again.  Looking it at, it wasn't fatal.  "Hell, it's not even threatening," Lee reassured her.  But in all actuality it was bleeding pretty bad and if it keeps this up, she going to have problems.  He also realized that they were going to have to get away from here.  The misfire would more than likely attract the police and he didn't want to deal with them.  He quickly stuffed the blood soaked sleeve into his back pocket and positioned Hitomi to stand up.  "Stand up!" he ordered.  She tried, but her knees buckled and she collapsed.  Lee caught her before she shit the ground and slowly lowered her to a sitting position.  "Sit up!" he ordered again.  Hitomi was at least able to do that.  He moved to the other sleeve and quickly separated it with the knife.  Cutting the separated sleeve along the seam he created an improvised bandage and placing it around the wound, tied it down tight, double knotting it.  

                Lee looked around.  They were behind a convenience story, where the alley emptied into and he hoped that the hadn't attracted too much attention.  So far no one had noticed.  He knew he had to get Hitomi out of here, but how to do it he was still unsure.  There was a payphone over against the side of the story; maybe he could call Sarah and get some help.  Genzo though, was out of the question, Lee didn't want to bring him any further into this than he already had.  He stood Hitomi up and slung her left arm over his neck, supporting her with his right.  "Walk," he said and Hitomi put one foot in front of the other without saying a word, but obediently following his orders.  They made their way over to the phone, all the while Hitomi's wound seemed to worsen.  The sleeve tied in a makeshift bandage had reached its limit and could not hold anymore blood.  The blood started escaping and leaking down her arm as they walked towards the phone; trickling down her arm and gathering at the end of her fingers it left little blood spots on the concrete in her path behind her.  When they finally struggled to get to the phone Lee leaned Hitomi up against the corner of the phone and the wall, being careful to use it to his advantage to hide the bleeding arm.  Hitomi's free hand started to wonder up to her hurt shoulder, while Lee frantically dialed Sarah's number on the phone.  He saw Hitomi reach for her shoulder and he reached out and stopped her hand.  "No, you have to be strong," he told her, "don't bring attention to yourself we're not in a good part of town right now."  The place on the other end of the line rang.  And rang.  And rang.  "Damn, no answer," Lee cursed aloud.  He looked Hitomi whose eyelids were starting to droop closed.  "Shit, if she goes under, 32 will pick me off so easily around here if I'm trying to carry someone," Lee thought knowing he had to keep her alert.  Very lightly he slapped her on the cheek to bring her back to life and she gasped and looped up.  He had to do a better job doctoring her up, and soon or she will go unconscious.  "Stay here," Lee told her just before he dashed around the corner into the store.  A minute later he came running back over to Hitomi with a bottle of water in his hand and Roger Jobes behind him.  Roger stopped when her saw Hitomi.  "Damn," he said amazed, "okay, get her cleaned up and I'll bring the car around."  Roger turned and went back around the corner.  "Okay Shorty," Lee told her, "let's get you cleaned up."  He took off his shirt and opened the bottle of water.  Pulling out the knife again he cut off the makeshift sleeve bandage.  Hitomi's bleeding had slowed and Lee let out a sigh of relief.  It would make things easier for him.  He poured some of the water into his hands and rubbed them on Hitomi's face.  She reacted, giving a surprised gasp and trying to move her head away from his hands of water.  "Here," Lee put the bottle of water up to her lips and Hitomi drank.  He heard a car engine and looked behind him to see Roger's old Cadillac Eighty-Eight parked and Roger pulling open the rear passenger door.  Lee wadded up his shirt and poured the water onto it.  With the wet shirt he wiped up Hitomi's arm as best he could, some of the blood had already dried.  When he reached the gash, Hitomi flinched as he wiped it clean.  Lee was surprised that she had hardly made a sound since this had happened.  He took Hitomi by the arm and guided her towards the back seat of the huge car.  Getting her situated he took a seat next to her, trying no to let any blood leak onto Roger's seats.

x x x x

                Back in Lee's apartment Leifang was trying to put groceries away.  She hummed a joyful tune to herself while trying to figure out where she was going to put them all.  She heard a car pull up and the engine stop, but didn't think much of it because she knew Lee didn't own a car, but there was a lot of commotion outside.  It was pulling at Leifang's curiosity she opened the door to take a look to see Lee helping Hitomi towards the apartment.  "Move!" he yelled to her.  She backed up and let Lee inside with Roger behind him.  He pulled Hitomi across the living room and through his room into the bathroom.  Lee was thankful that the bleeding has slowed and didn't leave blood spots on the carpet that would become suspicious.  Roger followed Lee into the bathroom and helped get Hitomi situated in a chair.  Leifang wondered why Lee kept dashing in and out of the bathroom and she started to think.  "That Hitomi girl has been nothing but trouble, she's probably just playing around pulling some sick joke to make Lee worry," she thought.

x x x x

                Finally the panicked atmosphere had calmed down and Hitomi wondered out of the bathroom with a gauze wrapped around her shoulder.  She seemed like she was back to normal, just really tired and wondered into the living room and watched Lee and Leifang busy trying to cook something in the kitchen.  From what her nose was telling her they weren't doing a very good job.  Lee noticed her sitting on the couch watching them and brought her a glass of water.  Holding it out to her, he asked, "How are you feeling?"

                                "Alright," she replied, truth was though that she was really tired.

                                "Well, I'm going to have a talk with you later," he said sternly.

"Okay.  And I want to have a talk with you now about that cooking.  I can tell that you have too much salt in whatever it is your cooking and you also have the heat up too high, you need to turn it down."

"Oh yeah? How can you tell?"

"I can smell it."

"What? The burning?" Lee asked as he sniffed the air.

"The burning and the salt."

                She took a drink from the glass and Lee went back to the kitchen to correct his mistakes.  Hitomi worried about Lee.  She had put him under a tremendous burden twice now and felt that her stay was over welcome.  She looked up at the ceiling.  "It might be easier for him and myself if I just got another apartment," she sighed to herself.  "What are you thinking about?" Hitomi was startled by the voice and looked to her right to see Leifang sitting next to her.

                                "Huh?" she responded.

                                "What are you thinking about?"

                                "Why?"

                                "Because I saw you over here thinking.  I bet your thinking about Jann aren't you?"

"N-no," she stammered, but actually she was thinking about him and what a burden she must be to him.

"Oh really?" Leifang replied slyly, "you weren't just doing this to get attention," she added while poking Hitomi in the bandaged shoulder.

"Owwww, stop it," Hitomi complained.

"I bet your just faking it," she accused her while still poking the wound.

"Jetzt im ernst, owwww, dass tut weh. Hör auf...[4]" Hitomi pleaded with her.

Leifang immediately stopped her poking and brought her hand back in surprise, like some dog she had been petting just snapped at her.  She was not expecting that from Hitomi, whatever she had said, it didn't make sense.

"Leifang! You leave her alone!" Lee yelled to her.  She stopped and looked at Hitomi angrily.

"I can see what you're doing and I'm not going to let you do it."

"Huh?" Hitomi raised and eyebrow in confusion.

She had no idea no idea what Leifang was talking about, but concluded herself that Leifang must really like Lee and he was taking care of Hitomi and Leifang felt like her spot in their relationship was being invaded.  Hitomi knew what it was like to take care of someone, just like Lee was doing to her.  She had done it herself not to long ago back in Germany.  Leifang left Hitomi confused on the couch and went back to helping in the kitchen.  Hitomi was feeling really tired, but she didn't want to go to sleep, not with Leifang around. There was no telling what she might try to do with her, probably play some practical joke or something if she went to sleep.  Later, when Lee and Leifang had finished cooking they all crowded around Lee's table and ate a silent dinner.

                Hitomi found herself back on the poking at the wound herself.  Lee came up to her and placed the box of Pocky on her lap.  "Here, I took it out of your pocket so you didn't crush it," he told her.  "Thank you," she replied, looking at the box of candy as if she didn't really appreciate it.  "Don't let her get to you," Lee told her sensing her depression, "she's very defensive.  She's been that way ever since she came to America."  Hitomi was intrigued.  

                                "Oh?" she questioned, trying to get him to explain more.

                                "Yeah."

                                "What happened to make her act like that?"

"Well, she doesn't like to talk about it, but I'll tell you the story, just so you'll have some dirt on her," he smiled.

Hitomi sat up and listened intently while taking a Pocky stick and bit off the end.  "You ready now?"  he asked her.  Hitomi smiled while chewing the Pocky and nodded.

"Okay," he continued, "two years ago we were pulling my last job in an alley, right outside one of Red 32's warehouse.  Leifang was just passing by and some of the boys from 32 though they'd have a little fun and try to take her, besides it was dark and she wouldn't expect it.  When they came out the rest of my boys snuck inside, but I figured out what they were up to.  There were only four of them, but they got her backed into a corner.  I hate seeing women hurt, Genzo knew this, so he never put me on missions involving women."

He looked at Hitomi and could tell she was a little confused.  "Just listen," he said, "don't try to figure anything out," and continued with his explanation.

"They started to go after her and she tried to run, but there wasn't anywhere for her to go.  It was funny really, in all their grapping and reaching they didn't notice I was coming up right behind them.  I made quick work of them and got Leifang up and on her way again, but she never just let me go.  I don't know why she follows me around," he paused as if to think, "she still does."    

Hitomi looked at him and took another bite of the Pocky.

                                "Do you know why she follows you around?" she asked him.

"Well, I think it's because she wants to defeat me in a fight.  She keeps bringing invitations to fighting tournaments and dropping little hints here and there."

Hitomi's eyes lit up.  Lee's talk about fighting tournaments had poured gasoline on her sparked interest.  She had always wanted to go to a fighting tournament, it would be her chance to fight someone stronger; that was her whole purpose for coming to America in the first place. Lee continued with his story. 

"I entered this one tournament last year called 'Dead or Alive', because I had just quit and I needed some money.  Low and behold Leifang followed me there and entered the tournament too. Well, I beat all of my opponents and finally had made it to the semi finals.  With my luck, it turns out my opponent is Leifang.  She seemed determined to beat me by the way she was running he mouth."

Hitomi smiled a little.  Leifang was also trying to intimidate her.

"Anyway, we went at it and I whooped her so bad it wasn't even funny.  I was amazed Leifang even made it as far as she did, she wasn't even much of a challenge."

Hitomi smirked as the tale of Leifang being easily defeated by Lee satisfied her.  She looked around, but it seemed like something was missing.  Finally, it hit her, "Lee, if you won the tournament, why don't you have a house or something?"

"Well," he explained, "that was only the semi-final round.  I had to fight this ninja, Ryu Haya—something for the big money.  He kicked my ass.  I spent a week in the hospital so all the money I had won in the tournament went to paying for my doctors bills in the hospital.  Damn ninjas.  I hate 'em."

                This brought the thought of money back on Hitomi's mind.  She knew Lee didn't have much money and yet he had bought her groceries and candy, let her stay at his apartment and brought it upon himself to provide for her.  This was more than anything she had expected to receive in America.  The more she thought about it, the more Hitomi felt like a burden to Lee.  She decided it would be best to just ask him about it.  "Lee," she asked, "I am a problem?  Me staying here and everything?"  Lee looked at her, her question had caught him off guard.  "Erm, well…" he trailed off not really knowing how to respond.  He wasn't really prepared to answer a question like that.

                Hitomi was crushed.  Jumping to conclusions, she knew that it had been a problem with her staying with Lee.  Not only was he worrying about protecting her, which was running him ragged, but he also bought her thing and now saved her life twice.  She figured it was only a matter of time before he would ask her to leave.  Hitomi couldn't help feeling guilty and shameful and didn't want to show it, but couldn't help the tears that her father had tried to rid her of.

"I'm sorry," she said looking at Lee, her face shining from the tears, "I figured I was a problem."

"Huh?"

"I…I thought it was going to be okay, until this afternoon, but well, maybe I need to go somewhere else," she paused and looked at the floor, "away from here."

"What are you talking about?" Lee questioned.

Then he realized what she was talking about.

                                "Whoa, wait.  You not planning on leaving are you?"

                                "Well, I'm causing you so much trouble."

"Hold on, you're not causing trouble.  Actually, it's kind of fun having you around; at least there's never a dull moment," he chuckled to himself, "And it's lonely living here by myself, it's good to have another person to talk to."

"But…but…" Hitomi was shocked.  She didn't realize he wanted her around, he hardly said anything to her and was always so serious.

"Look," he said, looking at her directly in the face, "I don't want you to leave."  When he realized what he had said, he became quiet and looked away.  It just wasn't his style and he had already embarrassed himself.

"I'm afraid for your safety," he mumbled.

"Besides," he continued, "can't have you running around with this big bandage on your arm like that," he said, poking at her shoulder.

"Owww," she responded, but in lifeless monotone.

"Does it hurt that bad?"

"Yeah, it's kinda big."

"It shouldn't leave a scar," he reassured her, "it seems too shallow for that."

"What brought up the idea of causing me trouble?" Lee asked, "I mean, it's no problem.  I used to have my boys shack up here all the time when they needed some place to stay.  It was no big deal, we were all like brothers."

Hitomi looked at the box of Pocky, embarrassed that Lee was so worried about her.  She never meant to cause so much trouble.  She was familiar with how it was to take care of someone, like Lee was with her.  She did it herself to someone back in Germany, two years ago.

  


* * *

[1] Konnichiwa – Japanese phrase that means "Good Afternoon"

[2] Japanese formal greeting,  "My name is Hitomi Barrens, pleased to meet you."

[3] Japanese ¾ A cute or childish "excuse me"

[4] "Jetzt im ernst, owwww, dass tut weh. Hör auf…"- German for "Seriously, owwww, that hurts. Stop please…"


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 

                On the outskirts of the German Black Forest sat the little town of Kappel.  It wasn't the busiest of towns. Its residents were easy going and laid back.  But during the winter months the town gained a little popularity as a vacation retreat.  One family who annually contributed to their winter income was the Barrens.  Hans had established a small winter home, a few miles outside of the town and would take his family with him on retreats into the forest.  But he also had an ulterior motive: to use this opportunity to train Hitomi into the best fighter she could be.

x x x x

                "Hitomi, let's go."  She had stopped and braced herself against a tree to catch her breath.  The bark felt rough against her palms, her blood quickened, heightening her senses.  Her father came over to her, his arms folded across his chest.  "Bist du müde?" [1] he asked, his deep voice had a serious tone.  A bead of sweat rolled down her nose and fell to the forest floor.  "No, not yet." She replied, forcing herself to push forward and continue jogging.  The early morning air was cold, and it stung Hitomi's lungs.  Her breath was visible as she tried to keep a steady pace with her father, jogging along a footpath in the forest.  Her gray sweat suit was much lighter than her father's military fatigues and the belt he wore that held a canteen and machete, but the legs of the suit were becoming damp from rubbing against the dew laden foliage that had overgrown the path.

                Ahead Hitomi could hear the trickling of a stream.  They normally stopped to rest there on these treks into the forest.  It's banks sometimes flooded, and over time left an open area of rounded rocks behind.  She followed her father as he pushed through the brush to reveal the stream at its normal level. The baseball size rocks made up its banks and could easily twist an ankle if one wasn't careful.  It was cooler near the stream, but it always was.  Hans took a seat on a large log that had been pushed over for some time, and lay sideways on the bank.  Hitomi walked past him and knelt down by the stream, it was one of the many things she enjoyed on the family trips to the forest.  Her reflection stared back to her with a rippling distortion as the stream flowed to her right.  She watched the water; it had a slight red tint.  Hitomi had seen the stream do this before.  There were many fragile red flowers that grew along the banks of the stream, and any strong wind or rain would bring them falling into the water.  The currents of the stream would cause the flowers to gather and pool in small groups along the bank, giving off a sweet smell that she always enjoyed and Hitomi began to wander upstream to look for them.  "What is it?" Hans asked her.  "Flowers," she told him and pushed past a bush.  "Heh, at least she's still a girl at heart," he told himself.  He had been worried that with all the martial arts training she might be more tomboyish than he wanted, but she was still his naïve little girl, for a while longer anyway.

                Hitomi wandered up the stream, staying close to the edge of the water, looking for the spot where the water pooled with the flowers, tainting the water an ever so slight red color.  She knew the habits of the currents well, but it was strange, because this time the water grew increasingly red as she neared the source, one characteristic Hitomi was unfamiliar with; normally the water's color stayed the same tint of red.   The red contaminate snaked its way upstream till it found refuge behind another bush.  "That must be it," she thought to herself.  But something seemed different this time. Something didn't feel right.  Pulling the bush to the side Hitomi could make out a black body topped with a brown, matted head of hair that lay face down. It's lower half was submerged in water.  A telltale red liquid flowed from its side into the water.  Out of surprise she let the bush go. It snapped back into its original position.

                Hans was causally sitting on the log, enjoying the view, when the high-pitched scream of his daughters voice interrupted him.  He instinctively snapped his head toward her direction and stood up, looking for any indication of danger.  Hitomi stumbled out from behind another bush and ran towards him, a scared look on her face.  As she neared him she tripped on one of the rocks as it shifted under her weight and she fell forward.  He quickly moved and assisted her, but now she was crying.  "Maybe she got bit by a small animal or snake," he thought to himself.

                                "What is it Hitomi?" he asked, "are you hurt?"

She clutched his shirt.  "There's a dead person over there!" she cried into his chest.

                                "Where?" asked Hans, smiling as if he knew that there wasn't really anyone over there.

                                "B-behind the bush," she cried.

                                "Alright," he said taking her hand, "lets go see."

Hitomi led her father over towards the bush.  Pushing it aside he stepped past it leaving Hitomi on the other side.  What he saw surprised him. He knew he had to keep a level head, and Hans started thinking, the calm and cool attitude that The Crew had taught him.  Hans quickly examined the body. It was a man with bruised skin, and covered in mud with a head of brown hair, thickly matted to its head.  The body wore a dirty, gray t-shirt patched with mud and soaked with water, torn and ripped in places that were accompanied by cuts and scratches, many of them leaking blood.  He crept up to it; careful to not step on it's arms laying lazily out it front of it on the bank.  Hans was shocked when he felt its neck for a pulse.  It was alive, just barely; but it was still alive.  He called out for Hitomi who stuck her head out from behind a bush.  "He's still alive," He told her, "not by much, but alive.  Help me get him out of here."  Grabbing the man under the arms he slid it out of the water and turned him over.  Hitomi could see the very slight fog of his breath, as he barely clung to life.  She stood by her father and watched as he took off his jacket and wrapped it around the man's upper body; and felt the man's arms for separations.  His arms weren't broken, and he slid them through the arms of the jacket.  "Clear the brush to the path," he told her and Hitomi slid the machete from its sheath on Hans' belt and hacked at the bushes and small trees enough for him to drag the man through.  Hans picked it up under the arms and dragged it out of the brush onto the path that was just wide enough for the three of them to move around.  "Is he going to live?"  Hitomi asked, looking at the man's face.  "Not if we don't get him some help soon," he replied.  Kneeling down he leaned over to the side of the body and picked him up by the arms, pulling them around his shoulders in a sort of lazy piggyback position.  Hitomi tried to support the body as he situated himself, and leaned forward to keep the man from falling off.  "Run ahead and tell mom what happened," he ordered, "tell her to warm up the bath."

                                "Demmo…"[2] Hitomi tried to argue, she didn't feel safe leaving her father behind.

                                "Hayaku!" [3]

She knew her father was serious when he yelled at her in Japanese.

x x x x

                Running at a full sprint down the path, she hated leaving her father behind by himself.  It wasn't like he couldn't take care of himself, she just hated to leave him with that injured person.  Being extra careful not to misstep and hurt herself she could see the forest open to their summerhouse outside the forest.  She cleared the three steps to the front door in a single jump and burst through the door.  "Ocasan! Ocasan![4]" she yelled into the house, but her mother had heard her coming and stood in the doorway between the hallway and living room, waiting for her.  "What is it Hitomi-chan?" she asked.

                                "We found a man in the woods, dad said to prepare a warm bath."

                                "Huh?" Maki was at a loss.

                                "That's what he said," she told him, as to confirm her own story.

                                "Help me then, Hitomi," her mother told her.

                                "Hai."

                Before long they had the bathroom ready, and Hitomi pulled out the first aid kit and lots of soap.  Maki looked at her in amazement.  "Are you going to wash a dog?" she laughed, "besides, if he's just coming to take a bath why does he need a first aid kit?"

                                "Because he was bleeding," she explained.

                                "Eh?"

"Yeah, I thought the flowers had fallen into the water, so I went to find them, but this man was bleeding in the water.  He wasn't moving and I thought he was dead, but dad said he was alive and…" her enthusiasm was cut short by a kicking at the front door.

"Ah, he's here!" she exclaimed and rushed to open the door and let her father in.

As she opened the door her father stood in the doorway, breathing heavily.  He smiled and cracked "Todai ma.[5]"  

                He followed Hitomi to the bathroom they had prepared and Maki helped him move the man.  They set him on the floor, his body looked very bad, but it was still clung to life.  Hans took his jacket off the man and pulled out a mid size lock blade from this right pocket.  Flipping it open, he cut off the man's tattered gray shirt and peeled it off.  The body was badly damaged, and Maki examined it.  His arms and shoulders were cut and scratched, but the worst of the damage was on the right shoulder.  It looked like it had been shot, a small bullet hole started on one side, but was also mirrored on the other side, indicating that it had passed straight through.  "five point five-six millimeter," Hans uttered, looking at the shoulder, "high velocity, full metal jacket, at close range.  He was either being chased, or was in a fight.  And that's with someone with money, not just a gang war, that's an assault rifle caliber."  Hitomi looked at her father, she knew that he gained a lot of knowledge about guns and firearms during his service with The Crew, but never imaged that he could tell that much by just a bullet hole alone.  "He will not live if we do not hurry," Hans told Maki, "make Hitomi help, she must be strong."  Hitomi peered around the open doorway of the bathroom at the mention of her name.  "Hitomi," her mother called, "come here and help."  She walked into the bathroom, stepping around the man's legs, and stood next to her mother.  "Here," Maki said as he held out a sponge to her, "help him."

x x x x

                Two days had passed and the man had still not awoken.  Hitomi sat in the guest room, an extra room they had in the house, next to the guest bed watching the man as he slowly breathed.  His face was young and relaxing even scratched and cut like it was.  His clean brown hair came down below his eyes and sprawled outward on the pillow.  Hitomi held a bowl of warm water with a white washcloth, and wringing it out she gently wiped his forehead.  She slowly pulled back the covers to reveal his bandaged chest, wrapped in gauze and band-aids.  It must have been very painful for him.  Her parents had gone out to buy food and clothing and had left her in charge to take care of him.  They always referred to him as "him", "that man", or "our guest", because they didn't know what his real name was, which made Hitomi think.  _What's his name?_, _Where did he come from?_, _What happened to him?_ were questions she asked herself.

                His bandages were a mix of white with red splotches as they covered the wounds around his chest.  Some were redder than others, and Hitomi carefully removed them, being gentle, not wanting to cause him pain.  As she removed a bandage some of the blood dried, securing the scab to the fibers of the gauze and as she removed it the man groaned.  She couldn't tell if it was a moan of possible mental pain that plagued him or the physical pain that she knew she was causing.  Replacing the bandage with a fresh one, she made sure that it covered the wound enough to prevent infection.  Hitomi felt sorry for him, he must have been through a lot with all the wounds he had taken; the pain must have been unbearable.  He looked a little older than her, his face rough and unshaven. She guessed his age was around twenty or twenty-two years old, but it was impossible to know exactly, until he woke and told them.  Hitomi looked at his face and smiled.  She had a strange attraction to him; he looked rough, but strong and at the same time depended on her.  It made her feel wanted and needed.  She finished putting fresh bandages on, and wiped his arms and chest with the cloth.  He had been running a fever all day, it seemed as if the world had turned its back on him.  Hitomi placed the bowl of water with the cloth on the floor and felt his forehead.  "Don't worry," she assured him stroking his hair, "I'll always be here for you."

x x x x

                Hitomi sat down to the dinner table to join the rest of the family.  The window behind her let in the orange evening light, that spotlighted the kitchen table that was dressed with the evening meal.  Her parents were open minded about their two cultures, and left both chopsticks and western style utensils on the table; however, the girls preferred the chopsticks.  The rest of her family was waiting for her, her father seemed to have something on his mind.

                                "Ikimasu," she chimed and took a drink from the glass of water in front of her.

                                "Did anything happen today?" Hitomi's father asked her.

                                "No," she replied knowing that he was referring their guest, "he slept all day again."

Hans let out a sigh of disappointment.  She could tell he knew something she didn't, and it troubled her.  

                                "What's wrong father?" she asked.

                                "Hitomi, he's in real bad shape," he told her.

                                "Yes, I know."

                                "We don't have access to any medical IV fluids or anything."

                                "Yes."

"If he doesn't wake up soon, in the next day or two, he'll die because we have no way to get any nutrients to him."

Maki put her hand on Han's shoulder and whispered a sympathetic "Anata" .[6]  Hans looked back down at the dinner plate in front of him. It was hard for him to tell Hitomi this; he knew she had become attached to this man whose name she didn't even know. 

                                "O – okay," Hitomi whispered in reply, catching on the word in shock.

Now she didn't feel like eating and instead poked at the roll on her plate with her chopsticks.

                                "I – I'm sorry Hitomi," Hans apologized.

                                "No, it's okay.  Whatever happens, happens."

Maki let out a surprised gasp and covered her mouth, as if she had just seen a ghost, dropping her chopsticks.  "What's wrong mother?"  Hitomi asked, seeing her mother's reaction.  She was staring at something in disbelief.  Her father had also stopped and was looking in the same direction. "What?"  Hitomi asked turning to look herself.  Then she saw what had distracted her parents.

                In the doorway where the hall opened into the dining room stood that man, their guest, leaning on the wall to help support him, his body still wrapped in bandages.  "Welcome," Hans greeted him.  The man stood and looked at him, then his eyes slowly wandered to the table of food.  It seemed like he was lost.  "Do you want something to eat?" he asked, "you're welcome to anything you want, you must be hungry."  The man just stood and looked around, his tanned skin patched with bandages, and wearing a pair of Han's loose gym shorts.

                He had finally woken up.  Even battered and torn he was standing and moving around, it was an inspiration to Hitomi.  She got up and brought him a glass of water.  He looked at it, longing to quench a three day thirst.  The man held out his hand to take the glass, his hand shaking under his body's weak condition and Hitomi thought twice about giving it to him.  She realized he might not be strong enough to hold it, and could drop the glass if she gave it to him.  Hitomi smiled and sat the glass on the table and he reached out to chase it, wanting the water she teased him.  She smiled again to at least give him a sense of security and taking him by the hand led him to the table and sat the man in a chair.  He took the glass with both hands and even then it shook enough to spill some water, but was able to drink and some of it spilled around the edge of the cup and dripped down his front.  Hitomi watched him and giggled.  It seemed funny to her that this man was acting like a child.

                                "Wie heibt du?" [7] she asked.

"Hitomi," her father protested, but when Maki placed her hand on his shoulder he stopped.

"Let her, Hans," Maki said, "she's old enough."

The man didn't respond to her question but looked at her and nodded.  His eyes started to droop and Hitomi realized that he must still be tired.  He shook his head as if to shake off the oncoming sleep and looked at the food on the table.  She could tell he wanted something and took a roll from a bowl on the table and presented it to him.  He reached for it with his scratched and battered hands, but his desire for food had taken away from his desire to stay conscious and he collapsed out of the chair and onto the floor.

x x x x

The man opened his eyes to see a familiar ceiling and a warm rubbing feeling on his chest.  He looked to see a young girl with a cloth that was causing the feeling.  She noticed he had woke and stopped, retracting her arm in embarrassment, her face turning a shade of red.  She uttered something he did not understand and called out into the hallway.  Two other people, a man and a woman waited in the doorway.  "Wie heibt du?" she asked him.  Instead of answering her, he replied with a question of his own.  "Itashiwa doko?" [8] he asked.  Hitomi lifted her head in surprise.  He had no way of knowing that she spoke Japanese.

                                "Germany," she replied.

                                "Germany?" he asked, as if he didn't believe her.

"Yes, we found you out in the forest, you were unconscious and near death," she informed him. 

"We're going to go out and get you some clothes," the woman in the doorway told him, "try not to strain yourself."

Then they left, leaving him and the girl by themselves, together in the room.

                                "Where am I?"  he asked again.

                                "Keppel, Germany," she replied.

The man shifted his view back to the ceiling again as if he was probing his own brain for an explanation.  The sat in silence for a few minutes, Hitomi still a little embarrassed about the cloth.  She got his attention by plopping it into a bowl of warm water on the floor and rising from the chair.

                                "Are you hungry?" she smiled.

                                "Yes."

                                "Okay, stay here and I'll go get you something."

She disappeared into the hallway and a minute later came back with a plastic mixing bowl covered with another cloth.  Sitting back down in the chair Hitomi took a roll out of the bowl.  "Here," she said handing it to him.  He pulled himself up, slowly shifting his legs off the edge of the bed and hunched over resting his elbows on his knees.  Hitomi could see that some of the wounds had ripped back open when he collapsed to the floor earlier; the bandages indicated that.  He took the bread, holding it loosely with his right hand.  "I'll go get you some water," she told him and disappeared down the hall again.  She returned shortly to see the man in the same position. It was if he never moved. His shoulder bandage had now turned fully red and was leaking the vital liquid again.  She handed him the glass of water and he received it, but his hand shook from weakness and water spilled from it.  Hitomi quickly took it form him and he stared at the floor in anger.

                                "I'm sorry," he murmured.

                                "It's okay," she replied and took a seat next to him on the bed.

"Here," she said, and slowly lifting the glass to his chapped lips.  He slowly began to drink and Hitomi smiled to herself a little.  It was fun to her, to take care of this man she was attracted to, but she realized she didn't even know his name.  "What's your name?" Hitomi asked, taking the glass down from his lips while some water ran down his chin.  The man stopped and tried to think rubbing his face and head as if it would help him.  "What's the matter?" she asked.

                                "I – I don't know."

"Where does it hurt?" Hitomi asked, gently caressing his shoulder, ready to alleviate him of any pain.

"N – no," he stuttered, "I – I can't remember my name."

Hitomi recoiled her head in surprise.  It was a shock to her that after all this time of keeping her suspended on what his name was, he couldn't remember it.  Taking her hand away from his shoulder she realized it was bleeding rather aggressively.

"Well, what should I call you?" Hitomi asked while trying to change the bandage on his shoulder.

"I don't know," he responded.

"Well, if you remember anything let me know."

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Hitomi," she smiled, "nice to meet you."

"Hitomi…" he repeated, "it sounds beautiful."

Hitomi smiled again and picked up the cloth out of the bowl, wringing it out.  He did not react as she wiped the wound clean of the blood that had found its way to the surface.  As she went over the wound itself he didn't flinch or even break his breathing pattern.  This amazed her, it was a state of mind her father called "Battle Hard" in which someone who had taken so much pain and suffering that anything more, like a cut or bullet wound was so trivial it caused no reaction.  She hoped that one day she would be able to reach that state, but at the same time she feared it knowing the consequences of getting there.  Hitomi picked up a roll of gauze bandage from a first aid kit that sat by her feet and counted out length, "Eine, zwei, drei." [9]  The man's head snapped with attention. "What did you say?" he asked.

                                "Ichi, ni, san," [10] she counted.

                                "No, no, those other words, what was the first one?"

                                "Eine?"

                                "Yes, I like that."

                                "Like what?  Eine?  It means one in German," she explained.

"Yes, call me Ein," he said happily, but his happiness quickly left him, "at least until I get my memories back," he finished.

Hitomi slowly began wrapping the gauze around his arm, but Ein seemed to not be paying attention.  It was part of that "Battle Hard" state of mind.  She kept wrapping and accidentally bumped one of the other bandages on his ribs.  He felt that.  Ein looked at Hitomi who kept wrapping, unaware that she had done anything.  "Ummmm," he didn't know what to say to her, the nudging of the soft wound inadvertently getting his attention.  She realized he was looking at her and looking up at him, stopped to think of something to say.  For a moment they eye contact, but Hitomi quickly took her hands away again, and looked away.  Ein could see through her dark brown and black hair.  Her face was turning a shade of red again.  "I'm sorry," she muttered to the blanket on the bed.  "No, it's okay.  Please continue," he encouraged.  Hitomi took the bandage again and finished wrapping his shoulder, being careful not to put pressure on any sensitive areas that might cause him pain.  When she had finished wrapping the gauze she removed a small metal clasp out of the kit and secured the bandage so it would not unravel.

                Ein reached out for the bowl covered with the cloth where Hitomi had placed the roll.  It seemed like fate was toying with him, keeping him from the food; the one thing he wanted the most.

                                "Do you want something to eat?" she asked.

                                "Please."

                                "Here," she said taking the piece of bread and giving it to him.

He reached his hand out to take the bread from hers.  His fingers slowly clasped around the roll, his hand cut and scratched.  It seemed to pain Ein to move it.

                                "Does your hand hurt?"  Hitomi questioned.

                                "A little, but I can deal with it."

She watched him as he took the roll loosely in his hand, ready to catch the roll if it loosened itself from his grasp.  As he lifted it to his mouth it fell and bounced off his lap, but Hitomi caught it before it hit the floor.

                                "Sorry," he mumbled, somewhat ashamed of himself.

                                "It's okay," she replied.

Taking the roll in her hand again Hitomi pulled off a small piece.  "Say ahh," she told him holding the piece of bread to up to his mouth.  Ein looked at her in silence. Realizing how inappropriate she was being she quickly pulled her hands away Hitomi set them in her lap, embarrassed by her behavior.  He laughed to himself and opened his mouth.

x x x x

                It was getting late and Hitomi had made Ein go back to sleep on the after replacing some of his bandages.  She happily bounced in the kitchen while humming a joyful tune to herself.  Her parents should return home soon and she could tell them his name at least, but not much else.  After she had finished drying a plate and placing it in the appropriate cabinet Hitomi was interrupted by footsteps in the hallway.  "Mutter," she said, "sein Name ist Ein."[11]  And turning around she did not see her mother but Ein instead, hobbling into the kitchen to sit down at the table.  "Ein!" she exclaimed, "you're supposed to be in bed."

                                "Sorry, I couldn't sleep."

                                "You should try," she light scolded.

                                "I know."

                                "Are you still hungry?"

                                "No."

                                "Do you want something to drink?" she asked in her best efforts to be a good nurse.                                           "No."

                                "Well, do you need anything?  There must be some reason you got up."

Ein rubbed his bandaged shoulder, it still bleeding ever so slightly.

                                "I'm scared," he trailed off, seemingly embarrassed and ashamed of himself.

"Why?" Hitomi asked.  It seemed strange to her that the battle hardened Ein could be scared of anything.

When she had finished putting away the dishes she took a seat next to him at the table.

                                "Because," he paused, "because I don't know who I am.  I scared of being left alone."

She looked at him.  His gunshot shoulder had slowed in its bleeding.  His side was no longer a problem, which had led her to find him in the first place.

"I – I just want someone to talk to," Ein chocked out, "maybe if you keep talking to me, I'll remember something."

Hitomi was overcome with by a wave of joy, although she hid it under a serious expression.  He wanted her.  He needed her.  It made Hitomi feel so happy.  "Okay," she decided, "I'll talk to you, but first you have to get back in bed," rising from the chair.  He stood up, the muscles in his thighs straining to support his one hundred and sixty-five pounds.  His legs were not nearly as badly damaged as his chest and arms, but they still bore their share of bandages.  As he stood his right leg collapsed from weakness. He lost his balance and fell towards Hitomi.  With her quick reaction she caught him; her arms bracing him around his muscular chest.  Her legs buckled a little under his weight.  She quickly righted him; her hands were soft from the dishwashing soap and helped move him towards the guest room.  "See, you should have stayed in bed," she told him in a playful 'I told you so' tone of voice.

                Hitomi sat him back in the bed again and laid him down, like a mother putting her child to bed, and pulled the covers up to mid-chest.  She took a seat in the chair that stood next to his bed.  It seemed commonplace now.  The chair had stayed next to the bed ever since they laid Ein in it.  

                                "So… what do you want to talk about?" she inquired.

                                "I don't know," he replied, looking at the familiar ceiling once again.

Hitomi giggled to herself a little.

                                "What?" Ein asked, thinking she was laughing at him.

                                "Do you know what I said earlier when you came into the kitchen?"

                                "No."

                                "I called you mother.  You walk so softly, like my mother does."

Ein looked at her, seemingly annoyed.

                                "Great," he complained, "I limp like an old lady."

She pointed her finger as if to scold him, "You should thank her.  She helped to save your life."

                Hitomi turned her head towards the hall at the sound of the front door closing.  "They're back," she told him.  Ein pulled himself up to rest against the headboard of the bed.  Her parents came into the guest room to see their daughter and their guest conversing.  They felt relieved that he was up and about and knew he wasn't going to die.  They both entered the room, Hans with a plastic bag with clothes and Maki stood behind Hitomi.  Hans took a seat on the bed next to Ein.  "I'm Hans Barrens," he said introducing himself.  Acknowledging with a hand he said, "This is my wife Maki."  Maki bowed to Ein.  "And I believe you've already met my daughter Hitomi," he said with Hitomi bowing to him also.  

                                "Yes," he replied, "My name is Ein."

                                "Well then," Hans continued, "lets get you into some of these clothes."

He looked at the girls huddled around the chair next to the bed.  They left the room shutting the door behind them.

x x x x

                Hitomi threw herself on the bed in her room.  It was soft, and yet had a level of comfortable firmness.  The bed was big enough so that she could lay her arms and legs out and not hang off the edges of the bed.  She laid her head on a pillow and looked up at the ceiling in contemplation.  She was overcome with happiness.  Ein wanted her.  He needed her.  Well, that's the way she understood it anyway.  She felt so important.  A stuffed animal that resembled at cat sat next to her head.  Hitomi grabbed it and held it outstretched above her head.  "Isn't he cute Neko-chan?"[12]she asked it.  It did not reply but just stared, glassy-eyed, at her.  "I knew you'd think so," Hitomi said giving it a hug.

                Hearing the door open Hitomi looked to see her mother stick her head inside.  Maki came in and sat on the bed next to her daughter.

                                "Did you talk with him?" she asked.

                                "Yes, for most of the day."

                                "What did he say?" Maki asked, intrigued.

"Well, he didn't say much," Hitomi told her, "his name is Ein, but he doesn't remember anything else."

"Oh?"

"Yes, and his bleeding has slowed for the most part."

"Good."

Maki looked at her daughter, who was relaxing on the bed, holding a stuffed animal.  Come the end of May would bring Hitomi's seventeenth birthday, and she would have to give up her childish ways and comforts.  Hans would train her to an expert level, but until then it was not much more than a game to her.

                                "Hitomi."

                                "Yes mother?"

"Don't get too attached to him," she warned and rose from the bed, "he may leave as soon as his health returns."

With those words she left the room.

"It's okay Neko-chan," she told the stuffed animal, "he won't leave as long as he needs me."

x x x x

                Days went by.  Days turned into weeks.  Ein's condition continued to improve.  It was a miracle to the Barrens that Ein was now up and active, defying the fate that had opposed him.  His bruises had faded, but some of the more serious wounds on his body, including the bullet hole, remained.  To show his gratitude for the Barrens' generosity Ein insisted on helping with the chores, at least the ones he could help with in his condition.  Maki was grateful to have him help although she knew she was perfectly able to do them herself.

                They slowly began to accept Ein as less of a guest.  As he caught on to the German language Hitomi and Maki stopped addressing him with honorifics, showing that they had accepted him as a close friend or family member, but to Hitomi he was much more than that.

x x x x

                Ein slowly opened the door to Hitomi's bedroom.  Peering inside he could see her in her bed, sleeping, serene and calm.  His feet did not make a sound as he walked across the floor to her bedside.  She shifted her position on the bed and with an annoyed moaning pulled the blanket over her head.  With her still asleep he slowly reached out and stole the stuffed animal from Hitomi's beside.  Ein smirked slightly as he headed for the door.  He grabbed the doorknob, but his fugitive actions were ended.

                                "Ein, where are you taking Neko-chan?"

                                "Oh…nowhere," he replied to the door.

                                "Give him back," Hitomi playfully commanded.

"Dang," he said tossing the stuffed animal back to her, "that's the third time this week you've caught me."

"What did you expect?  You're the one who taught me to sense changes like that," she explained.

"True.  But you've only caught me three times out of eight.  What about the other five times I actually got out?"

He walked over and sat on the bed next to her.  Patting her on the head he said, "Don't worry, you're a quick learner.  Soon you'll be able to perfect it and catch me every time."  Hitomi pouted her lips and crossed her arms across her chest.  "But I'm not fast enough," she whined.  "You will be," he reassured her.  "Now," he continued, "get ready, father wants you to go jogging with him."  Ein left the room as silently as he entered.

                She got out of bed and searched her closet for a sweat suit.  Hitomi found a sky blue suit and set it on her bed.  Her father always gave her the sweat suits to train and practice in, she would come home from school one day, and a new one would be laying on her bed.  It was funny how he seemed to know the size that fit her perfectly; he must get the information from her mother.  All the suits were different colors and Hitomi had six or seven of them.  However, there was one thing that linked them all together.  Embroidered on back on every sweat suit was a large contour of a bird with its wings flared open spanning shoulder to shoulder and head in a profile.  Once her father had saved enough money he opened his own Karate dojo and used the Phoenix as his mascot and logo.  He even made Hitomi a few shirts with the bird on it.  Hans was very proud of his dojo.

                Hitomi met him outside dressed in the sweat suit she had picked out.  Her father was standing beside a tree using it as leverage to stretch his legs.  His loose military fatigues were a black, white, and gray color scheme, positioned in the modern American urban assault pattern.  It would stand out in the forest.  "Good morning father," she said to him.  "Morning," he replied.  Hitomi stretched her legs by touching her toes.  Bracing herself against the tree she pulled her a foot up to her back with her hand, effectively stretching out the front on her leg.  Switching legs she repeated the process.  Stretching her arms out behind her back she felt her fathers hands grab her wrist and help her stretch.  He usually helped her and she appreciated the fact that he did not want her to hurt herself.  As they stretched her arm she noticed Hans walk out in front of her buckling down the belt with the canteen and machete around his waist.  Who had her arms?  Who was helping her stretch?  Hitomi quickly pulled her arm away and spun around to see Ein looking her directly in the face.

                                "Ohayo Hitomi," he smiled.

                                "Ein?  What are you doing here?" she asked, happily surprised.

                                "Father thought I should go too," he replied.

                                "What?"

"He said I had been in bed too long and I needed to get out and move before my muscles rot."

Ein's familiar blue shirt had that bird spread across the front.  It was the same shirt Han's sometimes wore when teaching her.

                                "Are you coming with us Ein?"

                                "Yup."

She reached into her pocket and came back out with a piece of cord, burnt at both ends so it wouldn't unravel.  "Here," she said handing it to him.  He took it from her.  "What is this, some sort of lucky charm?" he asked her, chuckling to himself.  Hitomi didn't come across to him as a superstitious person.  She seemed more like a person that believed in skill and ability than luck.  "No silly," she laughed turning around, "tie my hair with it."  Hanging the cord from his mouth he caressed Hitomi's hair.  She smiled, although she knew Ein couldn't see her.  But her father did.  He chuckled to himself slightly, not wanted to bring any, or mainly Hitomi's, attention to himself.  He used to tie Maki's hair all the time when they met in Japan.

                Ein looked at Hitomi's hair in his hand.  It felt so familiar.  It was like he had done this before.  The morning light was not very bright, but it seemed to give her hair a copper color.  "No," he doubted himself, shaking his head as if to reset his eyes.  It was probably just his eyes playing tricks on him.  Dividing her hair into three different groups he swiftly braided her hair and tied the end with the cord.  "Done," he told her, letting the thick braid fall down onto her back.  "Already?" she thought aloud and pulled her hair over her shoulder.  To Hitomi's surprise it was a tightly braided ponytail, the white cord looped around the end and tied in a bow.  It was amazingly secure around the braid.  

"Wow, this is a really tight braid, and you did it so quickly.  Have you braided hair before?  Seriously Ein, this takes a lot of practice," she complimented.

"No, I don't think so.  I can't remember any other time when I braided hair besides just now."

"Well that's okay, someday you'll remember."

"I hope so."

"I don't hope," she told him, "I know."

"Huh?"

"It's like woman's intuition," she winked.

Ein smiled.

"If you say so."

                "Hey! Let's go," Hans told them and started jogging away.  "Go, or he'll leave us behind," Hitomi told Ein, "he doesn't have the patience to wait on us."  The started off; catching up and matching pace with Hans.  Hitomi and Ein jogged side by side, her on his right.  The cool, humid, morning made their breath visible in the forest.  Her father's pants were obvious as he jogged his was through the flora that attempted to take over the footpath.  

                                "Have you remembered anything?" she asked.

                                "I've tried, but I can't remember."

                                "It's okay."

They kept following him through the various bushes around logs that had fallen over, obstructing the path.

                                "Father said he's going to train me," Ein told her.

                                "Eh?"

"He said when we go to Berlin, he'll teach me Karate.  He said that I have a fighting spirit because I survived."

"Oh?"

"Yeah."

"Heh, he likes to fight," she laughed between breaths.

As they rounded a bend in the footpath Hitomi could hear the trickling of the stream.  It was where she had found Ein.  In a few days they would have to go back to Berlin so she could attend school at the end of the winter break.  Hitomi loved it out here in the forest and would hate to leave it all behind, like she had every year since she was little.  It was given her so many wonderful memories in the past, but now it had given her something more wonderful than she could have ever imagined.  She enjoyed his company so much felt so good around him.  He seemed to return her feelings.

                Hans pushed through the brush ahead of them, towards the stream.  Hitomi and Ein followed and wondered out onto the bank of smoothed rocks.  Taking in a long breath Hitomi exclaimed, "Wow, the stream smells so good today."

                                "Oh yeah?" inquired Ein, sniffing the air himself.

                                He had a different reaction.

                                "I don't know," he paused, "I smell something different."

                                "Like what?"

                                "Like decaying flesh."

"Ewwww," she replied, slightly repulsed, "how do you know what decaying flesh smells like?"

"I don't know, but it's coming from that direction," and he began to wander upstream, towards the bush where Hitomi had found him.

Hitomi followed but kept her distance; she didn't want it to seem too obvious that she was following him.  Passing some small bushes he same to a spot that was relatively clear of brush, close to where Hitomi had found him.  He stopped.

                                "What is it?" she asked him.

                                "Stay back!"

Hitomi was shocked by his answer.  She backed up a few steps.

                                "Hans!" Ein yelled.

Hans rose from his habitual resting spot on the log.  He walked over and stood behind Ein.  

"What is it?"

"Look," Ein said, pointing to the clearing.

In the small clear patch lay a body, sprawled on the ground.  Its face was turned away from them.  Hans stepped past forward past Ein.  He kneeled on one knee on the ground by the body.  Its black military uniform was covered with leaves and grass, blown down by the wind.  "It has no identification patches," Hans told him.  

                By the body's head lay a black combat helmet.  Its chinstrap was broken and the helmet was filled with leaved and dead grass from the ground.  By the body's outstretched arm lay a gathering of leaves with a black, smooth, slender tube protruding from it.  Hans stood and walked over to the leaves.  Reaching down he pulled at the tube, and held up a rifle.  "Wow," exclaimed Ein in an emotionless tone.

"Wow is right," replied Hans, looking at the gun with enthusiasm, "do you know what this is?"

"No."

"This is an AR-15.  An assault rifle manufactured by Armalite, an American company.  It's basically a civilian version of the M-16 the United State's military's general issue assault rifle.  The only difference is this one doesn't shouldn't have the multiple fire modes like M-16."

Hans turned the gun over to examine both sides.

"This one appears to be modified though," he continued, "it looks to have selectable fire modes of one, three, and full auto."

He shouldered the gun and looked down it as if to shoot it.

"It's scoped, but the scope is fogged up, meaning it's been out here a while."

Turning the gun around again he looked at the handle and trigger.  Finding a small lever he tried to force it downward, towards a white 'S' on the side of the metal.

                                "The safety is rusted in the single shot position."

                                "So?"

"It's been out here long enough to rust and it's off.  Meaning this person was ready to shoot when they died."

Looking the gun over once more he located a button by the trigger guard.  Hans tried to push it, but it was rusted in place.  Sliding out the machete, he smacked the button with the bottom of the machete handle.  The ammunition magazine fell from the rifle onto the ground.  He picked it up and examined it.  It was half empty.  Setting the AR-15 down he slid a bullet from the magazine into his hand.

"Five point five-six millimeter," he said looking at the cartridge, "high velocity, full metal jacket.  This is the same size as the bullet hole in your shoulder."

Ein rubbed his shoulder at the mention of the wound.

"And," Hans continued, picking the assault rifle back up and pulling at a lever on the top of the gun, "the bolt is rusted shut."

He laid the gun against a tree and kicked the bolt open with his boot.  A cartridge ejected from it and flew past his knee.  Picking the rifle up by the barrel he pointed, "This is a silencer.  It makes the shooting of a gun almost inaudible.  This very well could be the person that shot you." 

                                "Well, he got what was coming to him," Ein smirked.

                                "Yeah, but how?"

Hans looked at the body lying on the ground.  It was sprawled out like it had been knocked backwards and fell.  He nudged the head of the fallen solider with his boot, turning its face towards him.  It had taken the mask of death. Its eye sockets were deep and open.  All of its features had sunken inwards.  But what had killed him was apparent.  His forehead was collapsed.  By his feet rested one of the smooth baseball size rocks from the stream.  "Damn," Hans uttered in disbelief, "you must have thrown that rock pretty hard."  He picked up the black combat helmet scooping the leaves and grass out of it.  The broken chinstrap hung loose from one side.  The front of the helmet was completely crushed, matching the spot on the soldier's forehead where the rock had met it.  "Who was this person?"  Hans asked aloud.  Turning to Ein he said, "Maybe if we figure out who he is, we'll know who you are."  Kneeling down he reached for the soldier's neck.  Slowly feeling around he came up with two chains.  With a sharp pull they snapped off.  Putting them in his hand he examined them.  A gold necklace with a locket and a small metal chain with two dog tags seemed to snarl at him.  Hans read the dog tags:

_Michael Henderson.  40873-0064.  DOATek Obtainment and Retrieval Division._

They just seemed like normal dog tags, except for one line.  _DOATek Obtainment and Retrieval Division._

                                "What is that?" he asked himself.

                                "What is what?" Ein asked, who had been looking at the tags over his shoulder.

                                "DOATek Obtainment and Retrieval?"

                                "I don't know," he replied with a shrug.

Putting the identification tags in his pocket Hans looked the locket over.  Pushing a small tab on the side it popped open.  Inside was a picture of a girl; an Asian girl, unmistakably Japanese in ethnicity.  She seemed strangely unnatural, yet attractive, with brown eyes and a brownish-copper ponytail that was held in place with a yellowish-orange ribbon.  She looked to still be a minor.  Etched on the inside of the locket door was one word.  Alpha.

                                 "Alpha?" thought Hans.

                                "Hey, do you know this person?" he asked Ein, handing the locket to him.

He took the locket and stared at the picture.  It was like he had seen that hair before, but he doubted himself.

                                "No."

                Hans stepped out from the clearing and Ein followed.  "What was it?" Hitomi asked, her attention was distracted by a ladybug that had landed on the flower she was holding.  "Nothing," Hans told her.  Hitomi looked at him and frowned.  She knew he was hiding something.  "It's for your own good," he said sensing her disappointment, "now I need you and Ein to go get lost of big rocks from the stream."  Ein obediently walked towards the stream to look for rocks sized enough to bring.  Hitomi jumped from the ground, while putting the flower in her hair chased after him.

                                "Ein."

                                "Humm?"

"What was over there?" she girlishly asked, hoping it would give her some leverage on getting some sort of information as to what was behind the bush.

                                "I don't know."

Hitomi stopped walking.  She didn't expect that, and didn't think that he would try to hide anything from her.  She disregarded it and decided to try again.  Catching up to him she tugged on his sleeve.

                                "Really Ein, what is over there?"

                                "Father doesn't want you to know."

                                "Why not?"

                                "Be he thinks you'll be afraid."

                                "Afraid of what?" she asked, trying to get him to tell her what was behind the bush.

                                "No."

                                "No?"

                                "No, I'm not going to tell you what's back there."

Bending down, Ein picked up a watermelon sized rock and held it out to Hitomi.  She cradled it in her arms and carried it over to Hans, who prohibited her from coming behind the bush.  He took the rock and set it next to the body.

x x x x

"Okay," Hans told Hitomi, "you can some see now."  Hitomi slowly and carefully made her way to the clearing, expecting something to jump out and attack her.  In front of her lay a large stack of rocks, the rocks they had pulled from the stream.  The pile was impressively large, almost as tall as her waist.  Hans came up behind her, and with the machete, hacked off two limbs from the tree.  Fashioning them into approximate equal length with the small sword.  Cutting notches into them he fit the branches together into a cross.  Hans searched the ground, for what, Hitomi was uncertain.  When he had found what he was looking for he shifted a rock on the pile, placing the cross where the rock once was he shifted the rock back to it's original position, effectively holding the wooden cross in place.  He walked over to a patch of ivy that lay peacefully on the forest floor, seemingly unaware of the solider or the events that had gone on that day.  Hans reached down pulling up a vine from the ivy and continued pulling until he had a reasonable length.  With the machete he severed the vine from the plant.  He tied the vine around the crossbar of the crucifix and it held in place.  Hitomi watched him as he did this, amazed at her father's compassion.  One would have never of guessed that he was once part of an elite military organization.  Ein walked over to the rocky grave of the fallen solider and draped the locket across it.  "What happened?" Hitomi asked him.  "He died," Ein replied.  Hans picked up the helmet off the ground and hung it from the top of the cross.

                Hans looked at Hitomi who stood on the opposite end of the grave and was clinging to Ein's arm.  That was fine with him, she may be scared, it was okay for now.  Staring at them, they stopped looking at the stone burial and focused on Hans.  "You must show the dead and your opponents the utmost respect," he told them, kneeling on the ground.  Hitomi followed his lead and kneeled herself.  Ein looked at the two, father and daughter had kneeled on the ground to pay their respects, but he was in awe at such a sight that he stood.  Hitomi tugged at his pant leg and he took a spot next to her.  He watched her with the curiosity of a child and when she bowed her head he quickly bowed his, not wanting to disrespect her.  Hitomi whispered a traditional Japanese prayer that her mother had taught.  Only Ein could hear it.

x x x x

                Hans sat in his bed, the covers up to his waist, his back braced against the headboard of the bed.  A faint red glow of eleven fifteen was projected onto his bed sheet.  The room was almost completely dark, dimly lit by the by a single lamp next to his bed and the partially open bathroom door; that concealed his wife on the inside with the sound of running water.  Holding the dog tags out to examine them he started to think.  "What is this Obtainment and Retrieval Division?" he asked himself.  He did escort the president around Japan years ago, but he had never heard of such a division.  And why did he have a gun?  Firearms are outlawed in Japan.  What's more, you would have to get a special government license to issue guns to qualified personnel, in Germany or otherwise. This mystery has Hans frustrated.  The tags shone in the dimly lit room.  The letters of pressed metal reflected light from the lamp, as if to conceal an explanation.  The tags were lined with a black rubber also known as silencers, but of a different sort.  They kept the tags from making noise as they collided with each other.

                The sound of the running water inside the bathroom stopped.  Hans' attention was shifted to the bathroom door as it opened and the light from the inside slowly invaded his dimly lit room.  Maki emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in a silk robe, her black hair resting evenly behind her.  She sat in the bed next to her husband and pulled the covers up to her waist.  Setting herself against the headboard of the bed she could tell Hans was under an unnatural amount of stress.  "What's wrong dear?" she asked.  Entwining her fingers into his right hand that lay idle at his side, she gently squeezed it.  "I don't know," he sighed, slowly laying his head against the headboard.

                                "Humm?" she asked in gentle inquiry.

                                "It's just so strange."

                                "Strange? How so?"

                                "These tags make DOATek seem like some mad science fiction experiment."

                                "Oh?"

"Yeah. Obtainment and Retrieval? What is that supposed to mean?" he asked Maki, as if she would know the answer.

He tossed the dog tags across the room.  They silently landed on an oak dresser across from the bed.  Frustrated with his lack of knowledge about the situation he folded his arms behind his head.  Maki lowered herself into the bed.  Studying Hans again she could tell he was clearly troubled.  Putting her arm around him she laid her head on his chest.  The affections of his wife did not go unnoticed as he put a hand her head and slowly stroked her hair.  "It's okay honey," she told him. "everything will be alright."

x x x x

                Ein slowly opened the door to Hitomi's bedroom.  Peering inside he could see her in her bed, sleeping, serene and calm.  His feet did not make a sound as he walked across the floor to her bedside.  She shifted her position on the bed and with an annoyed moaning pulled the blanket over her head.  He slowly reached out and gently shook Hitomi on the shoulder.

"Hitomi, Hitomi wake up," he whispered, a scared urgency lingered in his voice.  She moaned from under the covers but did not move.

"Hitomi, c'mon get up, I'm serious."

She stuck her head out from under the covers and searched for a clock.

"C'mon mom, it's only," she paused turning herself around to find the clock, but found Ein instead.

"Ein?"

Hitomi could tell he was scared of something.

                                "Ein, what's wrong?"

                                "Someone is in the house."

                                "Huh?"

                                "Can't you feel their presence?"

Hitomi closed her eyes and concentrated as if calculating and immense math problem.

                                "I feel something," she said, "but I don't know what it is."

                                "Someone is in the house.  Go wake up father."

A red line projected itself down the hallway making itself visible to Hitomi and Ein through the open doorway.               

"What's that?" she whispered to him.

"That's him. He's here."

Ein swiftly pulled Hitomi from the bed and shoved her inside her closet, sliding the door closed.  The red line started to make its way into Hitomi's bedroom.  He quickly positioned himself behind the door to the room and as it opened to let the person through it concealed him from view.  

                The black figure cautiously and silently snuck into the bedroom.  At the end of the red line was a gun, small and compact.  The figure was hunched over to steady it as he walked.  He could not make much detail out on the man, his eyes covered by long, slender goggles.  Ein tried to as hard as he could to be silent.  Staying hidden was his number one concern; he only hoped that Hitomi could do the same.  The figure looked around the room.  He was searching for something.  Deciding it was not there he turned and left.  Ein opened the closet door.  Hitomi was curled up in a corner with a sleeping bag across herself.  She remained deathly still.  "Hitomi, it's okay now," he whispered, "but don't move."  He swiftly went to the hallway and stuck his head around the corner.  The figure had his back to him.  Sneaking down the dark hall he nearly tripped over a waist-high bookshelf, but a book loosened from it and descended towards the ground.  Catching it before it could alert anyone to his presence, he was about to place the hardback book back on the shelf, until he noticed it's title, Self Defense.  Holding the book in his right hand he brought his arm back and threw it with extreme velocity towards the figure's head.

                The man collapsed on the ground as the book came to rest by his feet.  Ein slowly crept up to the now limp invader.  Turning the man over he could see him breathing heavily in shock.  Searching the man's neck he found a chain.  Snapping it off he could tell it was a pair of dog tags, but couldn't quite make out what they said in the dimly lit hallway, except for one line: _DOATek Obtainment and Retrieval Division._

  


* * *

[1] German- "Bist du müde"  translates to "Are you tired?"

[2] Japanese - "But…"

[3] Japanese – "Hurry!" 

[4] Japanese – Ocasan is the traditional word for Mother, however, Mama is popularly used.

[5] Japanese – A traditional phrase meaning "I'm home."

[6] Japanese – Literally means "you" but between husband and wife it is used as an affectionate term like "dear", "honey", or "sweetie"

[7] German – translated means "What is your name?"

[8] Japanese – translated means "Where am I?"

[9] German – "Eine, zwei, drei" translates to "One, two, three" respectively

[10] Japanese – "Ichi, ni, san" translates to "One, two, three" respectively

[11] German – "Mother, his name is Ein"

[12] Hitomi address the cat like a child.  Similar to "kitty".


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

It was now mid December in Berlin. Hitomi attended school like any other girl her age, trying to make good grades in school, as well as good grades with her father while training with him. Running downstairs struggling to get a backpack over her shoulder and a tight fitting sky blue cap in her left hand, she snagged an apple from a bowl of fruit on the table as she quickly made her way through the kitchen. She reached the front door and struggled to put her shoes on, hopping on one foot trying to maintain her balance. "Hitomi you're going to be late if you don't hurry," she heard her mother call out from somewhere inside the house. "Hai, ikimasu," she called back and hurried out the door. 

Outside a dreary weather pattern waited to greet her. A light rain and heavy fog cut her visibility, but she felt confident she knew where she was going. With a light jog Hitomi rounded the corner of the street and headed towards the bus stop. Usually she would just walk to school, but the rain today inhibited that, and she rode the bus on days like this. Grabbing the excess straps of the backpack she pulled them, reducing the slack of the backpack as it slid smoothly upward. It was much tighter now, and would be harder to take off, but it didn't bounce nearly as much. The concrete sidewalk was wet with the rain, her shoes started to get cold and her socks became damp on the bottom; the soles of her shoes worn smooth from overuse. Hitomi knew their traction would be hindered on the slick concrete. Coming into view of the street lamp that she used as a marker for the bus stop all she could see through the fog was the lamp's top glowing an orange color, indicating its distance from her. But as she neared the pole a set of red lights glowed out over the street. "Ach schieb e!" she exclaimed, increasing her pace. Now in a full sprint Hitomi could make out one last person as they boarded the bus. Timing herself just right Hitomi stopped running and used the sidewalks temporary slick properties to slide towards the door. Balancing herself she used the hands to catch the frame of the open door and bring herself to a complete stop. The bus driver looked at her and smiled, as if he was expecting her to come sliding, like on an ice rink without skates, down the sidewalk. Hitomi jumped on the bus and took the nearest empty seat, placing the backpack in her lap.

Unzipping the small front pocket of the pack she pulled out the apple and wiped it on her shirt. The tight fitting, white, shirt bore a set of Kanji characters across the front, meaning, "love" and "strength". It was one of the many different cultural shirts she wore that her mother had either made or picked up somewhere. It wasn't often that someone in Germany wore a shirt with Japanese characters on them and it usually attracted strange looks from the other students, but Hitomi didn't care, they were her favorite shirts. After her attempt to clean the apple she took a bite. It crunched as she chewed and swallowed. A hand reached out and touched her on the shoulder. "Morgin Hitomi," a friendly voice chimed. She turned around to see Anaka in the seat behind her, smiling her a good morning. "Anaka," she smiled in return, "good morning."

It wasn't a long of unbearable ride to school if she had someone to talk to, but the day seemed to want to smite them. As if on cue the rain increased in intensity to the strength of a German pseudo-monsoon.

Anaka pulled herself into the same seat as Hitomi. The bus driver was clearly unhappy with her actions and accusingly called out to her. "Sorry," she apologized, scooting next to her best friend. "You want a bite?" Hitomi asked, holding out the red apple she had taken for breakfast. Anaka took a bite from the fruit. It tasted sweet and juicy, or maybe she just thought it that way because of her own absence of the morning meal. She tried to hand the fruit back to Hitomi, but Hitomi declined, "You can have it." Anaka looked at the fruit and took another bite. Again she tried to pawn the apple off on Hitomi, knowing her friend was just being generous, giving her the apple she had brought for herself. Hitomi refused the apple again, but Anaka was determined to give it back. She shook it towards Hitomi to emphasize the fact that she wanted Hitomi to have it.

Hitomi looked at Anaka, who had a mouth full of apple, and smiled. She knew her friend was trying to include her in the shared breakfast and would not give up until she joined her. Hitomi took the red fruit from Anaka, it's side battle scarred from the two girls devouring it.

"I hate days like this," Anaka complained.

"Why?"

"I just don't like them. Days like this just make me feel sad."

"It's been like this for a week," Hitomi mumbled, being playfully annoyed.

"Hey!" Anaka perked, she didn't seem all that sad, "how are you and that guy getting along?"

"Huh?"

"You know, that guy that's living with you. I heard he's pretty cute," she winked.

"How do you know about Ein?" Hitomi asked, surprised that Anaka knew about him after her family had promised to keep Ein a secret.

"Your mom told me," she smiled.

Hitomi rolled her eyes. "Mother," she sighed.

"So c'mon, spill it," Anaka encouraged while nudging Hitomi with her elbow, "tell me what you two have been doing."

"You're just as bad as my mother," Hitomi teased, squinting her eyes at Anaka in playful anger.

"But we've just been talking," she said shyly to her backpack, "nothing really. But he is fun to talk to."

"Oh?"

Hitomi had Anaka's full attention now.

"What do you talk about," she asked.

Hitomi sat in silence. She didn't want to tell Anaka that they had talked about Ein's recovery and probed his mind for anything that might bring his recollections to the surface. It was something she enjoyed talk about with him, although they never really were able to touch the memories of his previous life that she knew were in the deeper recesses of his mind; somewhere. Sometimes they joked around, all the while Hitomi hoped it would jumpstart his memory. But to Hitomi those times were still between her and Ein and she was hesitant to tell Anaka.

"Oh nothing," she said.

"Nothing? Or something you don't want to tell me about?"

"H - Honest it's nothing," Hitomi pleaded, trying her best to convince Anaka to stop nagging her about the subject, but choking on her words didn't help.

"Well, I know you two have done more than just talk."

Hitomi shot Anaka a suspicious stare.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh nothing," Anaka chimed with a smile.

"Well…" Hitomi started.

"Well what?" her friend interrupted her, jumping at the prospect of romantic tidbits of information from Hitomi.

"Well," she continued, "Ein has been training with father for the past few months since we came back from winter break. He's caught on to things really fast, it's almost like he's trained in Karate before."

"Oh?" Anaka said to encourage her friend to keep talking.

"Yeah," a smile of satisfaction found itself on Hitomi face as she leaned back in the seat.

"What?" asked Anaka, Hitomi smile bringing out one of her own in curiosity. 

"Oh…" she sighed, "if Ein is ready like father said we might have a sparring match tonight."

Anaka smiled to herself again. Hitomi was trying to act as if her relationship with Ein was on a professional level, but she wasn't doing a very good job. Anaka could tell that Hitomi's feelings went deep than just what she told her. It may have been the constant smiling when they brought up Ein in a conversation or the stuttering of Hitomi's words when Anaka asked her questions about him. Hitomi didn't want to admit it, but Anaka could tell; it was obvious she had feelings for him. 

The stopping of the bus drew Hitomi's attention away from her friend and outside the window. The falling rain blurred the school building. Adjusting the baseball cap on her head she nudged Anaka in shoulder and made her way towards the front of the bus. The rain came relentless, as if preparing for another forty days and forty nights of downpour. Stopping at the door she waited for Anaka to join her, but knew that she was just using that as an excuse to herself, for wasting time. She didn't really want to go outside in the rain. When her friend has joined her she ventured outside, facing the rain that she was so reluctant to challenge.

Her warm breath showed itself as it made contact with the chilling rain. The building was some distance from the bus stop but Hitomi walked towards the school with a steady pace, the rain making its presence known as it bounced off the bill of the cap. "Eeeek!" Anaka let out a squeal of surprise as she exited the bus and found the rain. In a girlish jog she grabbed Hitomi's arm and pulled her along towards the school. "Hurry," she said with a smile, "it's cold out here." They found themselves under the covered patio of the school, both of them dripping water. Anaka's body shook impulsively as it adjusted to the sudden temperature change from the warm bus to the rain. "Phew," she sighed, "it's cold." Turning to Hitomi, who seemed unfazed by the cold. Her hat dripped water from the front and sides of the bill, but she still held a smile. "Yeah, let's go inside," she said.

x x x x

Inside their classroom the two made their way over to Hitomi's desk. Taking her seat Hitomi sat her backpack on the desk. With a sigh she laid her head on it. "What's wrong Hitomi?" asked Anaka, pulling the chair from her desk over to Hitomi's. Hitomi gave no reply. Anaka looked at her silent friend and sat down in the chair. Putting her elbows on her knees she bent over bringing herself down to Hitomi's elevation on the desk. Anaka dawned another smile as she looked at Hitomi's face. It had a disappointed expression, one that she knew all too well.

"You're not sad," Anaka told her.

"Humm?"

Anaka took the blue cap off Hitomi's head. The portion of her head that it had protected from the rain had been smashed down closer to her head, of if it was scared of the rain.

"You're in love aren't you?" her friend smiled.

"Humm?" Hitomi responded, but the words of Anaka's last comment were unable to reach her conscious mind.

"Yes you are," Anaka reassured Hitomi and herself.

Anaka opened her purse and removed a hairbrush. Standing from the desk she pulled the chair around behind Hitomi, who was still slumped over in a daydream. "You may be in love," Anaka lightly scolded to her, "but your hair is a mess." She slowly scooted herself in the chair towards Hitomi and soothingly took her hair.

"Anaka," Hitomi muttered, unmoving from the pack, "what do you know about love?"

"Love?" Anaka asked softly, as if she didn't hear Hitomi correctly and smiled to herself. 

"I know enough to know that you're in love," explained to her while brushing Hitomi's hair.

"I'm not in love…" Hitomi trailed off quietly, "I'm just tired."

"Yes you are," Anaka gently argued still brushing Hitomi's hair while sporting a sly grin.

The bell rang, to announce the start of class. It snapped Hitomi to attention and she sat up in the desk. "Hitomi, please remove your hat," Doctor Hankins told her as he entered the room. The shock of the question caused her to pause, until she realized she still wore the cap. Reaching up she pulled it off and shook her head to make her hair flow out smoothly behind her.

__

"Hitomi."

"Hitomi."

The voice of her best friend echoed in her head. It had been one month since Anaka's life had been taken in the club. She tried to the best of her ability to save Anaka, but Hitomi efforts were inevitably in vain. Laying her arms out on the desk she buried her face in them. Her thoughts of that night and seeing her best friend hurt pained her. But not more than the fact that she was unable to do anything about it. Hitomi felt like she was being ripped apart from the inside. "No," she thought as she tried to summon the strength from within herself, "I will not cry." Hitomi felt the warm tears flow down her face. Ashamed of herself she wiped them off her desk and bit her lip to hold back a sniffle. "No," she said aloud, forcing herself to hold back the tears, the tears of the emotions she knew were making her weak, "I will be strong."

x x x x

The springs in the bed squeaked as they gave under the weight of Hitomi's body. Slipping off her house shoes she laid down on the bed pulled the blanket over her. Normally around this time her and Anaka would undoubtedly be doing something together but now; now she was forcing herself to continue. It's what Anaka would have wanted her to do. A knocking at the door took her attention away from her state of depression.

"Hitomi, I'm coming in."

She turned and saw Ein coming into her room, shutting the door behind him. "Ein," she said, stretching out, his face alleviating her of the downed state of mind, "what's going on?" A smile stretched from ear to ear on his face and that was all it took to vanquish any of the broken fragments of depression that remained. "What?" she asked happily, Ein's smiling bringing out one of her own.

"Father says that I can spar with you tonight, if you feel like going a few rounds."

"Eh?"

"That's what he said," Ein smiled.

"What did he mean by '_if you feel like it_'?"

"Oh. Well, he didn't really say that, but you seemed a little depressed, so I thought that it would be best if I gave you a choice. I'm sure father would understand," he said as he took a seat on her bed.

She looked at Ein. His face was clearly concerned; concerned about her. She tried to hide a smile but it found its way to the surface. Hitomi sat up the bed, with Ein on her right.

"Well," Hitomi said playfully punching him in the shoulder, "I won't go easy on you."

"Good," he said with satisfaction, "I wouldn't want it any other way."

He rose from the bed and walking towards the door took one last look at Hitomi. The Kanji on her shirt caught his eye. "I hope you put some of that strength to good use," he smiled to her and left the room.

x x x x

Opening the door to the back yard of their house Hitomi stepped barefoot outside. It was generally late and the sun had long since set. Ahead of her however the windows of her father's dojo were lit from the inside. Her feet became aware of the weather that had taken place earlier that day because the grass was cold and wet. She grabbed the legs of her karate gi and pulled them up so they weren't exposed to the muddy ground. Her father would be upset if they got dirty. Letting the pant legs go Hitomi opened the door to the dojo and went inside. A towel hug on a clothes rack next to the door and she dried her feet. Some of the grass had clung to her ankles and she brushed it off with the towel.

On the hardwood floor in front of her she saw father going over a last minute review with Ein. She took a place by her father and listened in on the review, hoping to pick up something up that she hadn't learned already, but it was all old maneuvers or lessons she had been taught already. "Okay. Hitomi, Ein," her father addressed them, "go get the practice mat and set it up." They walked over to the far wall of the dojo. A big blue and yellow gymnastics mat was folded upon itself to save space. Hitomi took the top fold of the mat and pulled it out across the floor. Ein grabbed the next fold and took it across. The rest of the folded mat unstacked and followed them as it was pulled. Hans folded his arms across his chest and watched the two as they worked. They seemed to have a level of teamwork and understanding like siblings, an understanding that maybe even rivaled twins. The two set up the mat quickly. Hitomi took a section; Ein moved it into position and secured it, while she retrieved another piece.

After they had spread out the mat Hans walked over it and stood in the center. The other two joined him. Hans turned to his daughter who had begun stretching. "Now listen Hitomi," he said sternly, "I told Ein not to go easy on you. Hopefully he'll go all out, but I want you to prove to me."

"Prove to you?" she asked. It seemed like he had stopped in mid sentence.

"Prove to me that you are not weak."

"Weak?" Hitomi said, offended. "I am NOT weak," she emphasized and took a fighting stance.

"Prove it to me."

Hans took one more look at his students. Hitomi had her hair under a backward, black baseball cap. Her white gi was clean and unstained, the large phoenix that he had embroidered on the back displayed itself proudly.

"Here."

A pair of red and black padded gloves intruded her view from the left. Her father was holding them out to her.

"Why do you want me to wear those?"

"Because I don't want you to hurt Ein."

"So you don't think I'm weak," she grinned.

"No," he denied, "Ein looks and acts healed, but I don't want you hurting him. He could still have some soft spots."

"Okay," she said taking the gloves from him and putting them on.

Securing the Velcro she took a fighting stance. "I'm coming for you Ein, she smirked. "Good," he replied and took a fighting stance. Ein's gi was white, like Hitomi's, it was also clean and unstained but also pressed and neat. It showed a level of discipline that had impressed Hans, Ein had developed it so quickly. Ein was shirtless underneath his gi and had rolled the sleeves up to expose his wrists and hands. They had been wrapped with athletic tape to prevent muscle strains and pulls. His brown hair came down below his chin and flowed evenly around his neck but he had brushed it back behind his ears to keep it out of his face. 

Hans positioned the two on the mat; Hitomi on his right and Ein on his left. "Now," he commanded, "bow to the instructor." The two bowed to Hans as a show of respect. "Now bow to each other," he instructed, and so they did. Satisfied, Hans took a few steps back but left his right arm forward to divide the two. 

"Go," he said taking his arm away.

Hitomi took the initiative. She stepped forward closing the gap between them. Hitomi brought her knee up to Ein's side with incredible force, ready to smash any organs it encountered. He caught her knee and put his arm under it. Now he held her knee and Hitomi was off balance. Pushing her backwards he threw her knee away. Before she could regain her balance Ein kicked Hitomi's only supporting leg out from under her. She fell to the mat, landing on her rear.

Her father watched, critiquing every move, but stood emotionless, his back against the wall.

Hitomi stood back up. "Owww, you're faster than I thought," she said rubbing the point of impact. Ein smirked and reset his stance. Setting her feet she brought her hands around, ready to face him again. He took a step towards her and swung a power right leg towards her head. Hitomi saw it coming and easily blocked it. She didn't see his left fist. It connected with her stomach and sent her rolling backwards on the mat. Hitomi gasped for air. Struggling to her hands and knees she held herself where she had been hit. 

"Hitomi." Her father was loosing his patience. Hitomi knew her father expected her to perform better than this. "No!" she yelled to the floor, frustrated that she wasn't performing like she wanted either. Punching the mat in anger she yelled, "I am not weak!" Standing back up, Hitomi took her fighting stance once more. Ein came at her again and she readied herself. He tried to hit her with the strong right kick again, but she caught it. Watching for his left punch she swept his left leg out from under him. Ein crashed to the mat. Hitomi knelt on one knee and raised her right fist. With a yell of energy she brought it down towards Ein's nose. He braced himself for the impact. Nothing. He was left in suspense. Opening his eyes he could see Hitomi's fist dominating his view. She had a silly grin on her face. The fist slowly made contact with his face and turned it aside. "Tag," she smiled, "you're it."

She stood back up and helped Ein to his feet.

"Okay, I've seen enough," he father said.

"But we just started," Hitomi protested.

"I know, and I've seen what I've needed to see."

"Do you want us to continue?" Ein asked him.

"No, I don't want you to risk hurting yourself."

"Alright."

Hitomi was disappointed. She was clearly expecting more of a fight than that.

"But…but…father," she whined.

"No."

She decided not to argue. Hitomi knew there was no way she could win.

x x x x

Stepping out of the shower Hitomi wrapped herself in a towel. Taking a second towel she started to dry her hair while searching for a hairbrush. In her search she opened the cabinet above and sink and pushed various bottles aside. A blur caught her eye as the object fell from the cabinet and bounced off the sink. With a plastic thunk the object skipped across the floor and came to rest against a wall. As she bent down to pick up the hairbrush her abdomen pinched in pain. Grabbing herself she sat down on the toilet. Hitomi opened the towel and took a look at her stomach. In the middle was a purple and blue spot. Poking at the spot caused her in writhe in pain. It looked to be the same place where Ein had hit her. She could feel a slight smirk form on her face. "Good," she said to herself, "at least he hits hard."

x x x x

The Saturday morning was damp and soggy; it set a depressing environment. Hitomi tiptoed across the grass, holding up the legs of her gi, to the door of her father's dojo. Sliding the door open she quietly went inside. In the open room she could hear Ein's energetic yells as he ululated his kicks and punches. Slyly poking her head around the corner Hitomi could see him practicing a routine throwing kicks and punches into the air in front of him. He seemed so disciplined, his skills honed to a level of experience maybe even surpassing her own.

When Ein finished his practicing he sat down on a bench against the wall of the open practice area in the dojo. Taking a towel out from under the bench he wiped the sweat from his forehead and hung the cloth around his neck. He laid his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, trying to slow his breathing back down to a normal rate. Hitomi sneaked over to the bench, being careful to stay out of Ein's field of view. Hitomi sat down next to him, and felt her feet knock against something plastic under the bench. Taking Ein's plastic water bottle from under the bench she looked at him. His head was still against the wall, his mind in deep thought, or else he would have sensed her sitting down next to him. He habitually reached down below the bench to take the bottle, but was unaware that Hitomi had moved it. Not finding his water he sat up and looked under then bench. The white cloth of the legs of a gi caught his eye. Sitting back on the bench again he could see Hitomi smiling her cutest smile possible.

"Here," she said handing him the bottle.

"Thanks," Ein replied, but he didn't seem too happy as he took the bottle from her.

He took a drink from the container. He tried to relax as he squirt some water onto his face and wiped it clean with the towel. Hitomi shifted nervously on the bench. She wanted to ask him questions. But it was a little embarrassing, she knew that she should keep to herself. But Ein was more like family now, maybe it would be okay for her to ask the questions that had been on her mind for a week, ever since Ein had defeated her. It made Hitomi anxious to know how he learned so quickly.

"Ummm, Ein?" she muttered in his direction.

"Yes?"

"Did you ever take any sort of Karate training before?"

"Well, not that I can remember."

Ein turned to look at her. Hitomi's face was clean and she smelled of bathing soap. She must have just finished a morning shower and now that she was fully awake, came to spy on him and his self-training. Her hair was pulled pack with a light blue headband. Under her gi was a tight-fitting black shirt, which bore the phoenix in a golden-bronze color.

"Why?" he asked.

"Well, you beat me last week, but you haven't been training for nearly as long as I have and yet…" Hitomi trailed off, obviously embarrassed.

"Don't sweat it," he said smiling confidently at her, "I must have some natural gift or something."

"Maybe you were a Karate master in your past," she chimed.

"Or a ninja," Ein chuckled.

They both laughed at his absurd comment. When the laughter had died, Hitomi stood from the bench.

"C'mon go a round with me Mr. Ninja," she teased.

"I dunno," Ein hesitated, "I laid you out last week."

"That was last week," she informed him, "and I've practiced a lot since then. I think I'm ready for you.."

"Oh you do, do you?" Ein smirked.

"Yes, I do," Hitomi replied confidently placing her hands on her hips and slightly jutting out her chest to try and intimidate him.

x x x x

The two stood on the blue mat again. Ein stood directly across from Hitomi, six feet between them. He had rolled his gi sleeves up again, showing his taped up wrists and ankles. He bowed to Hitomi and took a ready position; as she did the same.

"I'm not going to go easy on you," he told her.

"Good," she smiled and set her arms in position.

He charged her and quickly threw a punch towards her face. She could see it coming, but knew her reaction time was way too slow. As she waited for it to connect she braced herself for the pain. Her shoulder started to shake.

x x x x

"Hey shorty, you okay?"

Hitomi felt her shoulder being gently shaken. She sat up with a start. "Huh?" Lee stood next to her and she realized she was lain out on the couch.

"What's going on?" she asked him.

"Huh? You tell me. You were explaining about some Ein guy and fell asleep."

"Oh," she mumbled as she hung her head. It seemed so real, like it wasn't a dream and now she felt disappointed.

"Sorry," she apologized.

Hitomi looked around and rubbed her head attempting to push the blood back into the parts that had drained while she slept.

"Here."

She looked up to see Lee handing her a glass. She received it and drank greedily as the cool liquid flowed into her mouth and down her throat. A little trickle flowed from the corner of her mouth and down her cheek. As Hitomi set the glass down on the coffee table in front of her, she wiped the escaped water away from her mouth with the back of her hand. "Arigato Lee-chan," she thanked.

Hitomi looked around the room. To Lee she seemed lost and out of place. "What's wrong?" he asked. "N- Nothing," she choked. It was apparent to Lee that "_nothing_" was something. She looked like she was in a mild state of shock.

"Hey, you want something to eat?" he asked, trying to break her of the daze.

"Sure."

Moving into the kitchen he went to work.

"Lee?"

"Yeah?"

"What ti-- ," she stopped mid sentence at the sound of the front door opening.

Leifang came inside. "Lee," she called happily, "I got back from--." She stopped short at the sight of Hitomi on the couch. Leifang glared an ugly look towards her and shut the door. "Lee," she repeated, bouncing into the kitchen where he toiled away, and took a folded piece of paper from her pocket. "Look," she commanded, unfolding the paper and giving it to him. Lee looked at the blue flyer.

"Whoa," he muttered.

"See! See!" Leifang exclaimed and pointed to the flyer in excitement.

"Yeah."

"C'mon let's do it," she encouraged.

"No."

"No?" Leifang was clearly expecting another answer.

"I have to watch short stuff until she gets better," Lee explained.

"I am better!" Hitomi yelled into the kitchen to correct him, turning both Lee's and Leifang's heads towards her.

"Check your arm," he told Hitomi.

She looked at her right shoulder. A familiar white gauze was wrapped around it. Poking it softly she writhed slightly from the pain.

"Pleeeease," Leifang pleaded, trying to get Lee to cave.

"I'd love to stomp your ass again," he smiled, "but I'm taking care of shorty."

"Then let her in it too," she suggested.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, I mean, I'm sure she could do well," Leifang smirked, a devilish thought it was Indeed.

Lee's expression blanked at the suggestion. He knew Leifang was joking around, but she had no idea that Hitomi knew how to fight. It might be fun to let her enter and watch Leifang's expression as Hitomi leveled her opposition. But the fact still remained that Hitomi's shoulder would not heal in time for the competition and letting her fight could rip the wound open. Then again, Leifang didn't know how to fight either, at least not that he had seen. Lee figured that she just distracted her opponents one way or another then smacked them when they weren't paying attention. He was dumbfounded as to why she wanted to enter, other than to try and defeat him, which Lee knew he wasn't going to let happen. But he wanted to see Leifang's expression at the sight of Hitomi's Karate.

"Alright," he said, "I'll let shorty go. We'll see how she does."

"Eh?"

"Yeah, why not?"

Hitomi's attention was pulled away from her shoulder and towards the kitchen at the mention of what now seemed to be her nickname.

"What?" she called curiously into the kitchen.

"Nothing," Lee promptly replied and Hitomi went back to poking the bandage.

Leifang was clearly disgruntled by Lee's answer, but looking at the girl sitting on the couch, poking a bandaged shoulder, restored her confidence.

x x x x

Sliding a chair out from Lee's little kitchen table Hitomi sat down. Lee was setting himself across from her and slid her a plate of food. Hitomi looked at the plate. A pile of rice with a side of brown beans. It wasn't anything like what she was accustomed to eating and Lee had made it. "Are you sure it's okay to eat this?" she joked. Lee seemed a bit offended. "My cooking isn't THAT bad," he said defending his meal, "eat it, or go hungry." That was a little harsh from Lee. It surprised her, but she was not hurt. Clasping her hands together she chimed "Ikimasu." Taking the chopsticks next to her plate she began to pick away at the rice and beans.

It was strange. The meals they ate were almost always silent. A deadly quiet. To Hitomi it was nerve-racking. Lee's dinners were always alone. It made no difference to him if she said anything or not, it was always silent when he was by himself. But tonight he knew that he would have to get Hitomi's approval to put her in the contest, and that would require breaking the silence. He always found that to be the hardest and most awkward thing for him to do, breaking the silence. But he knew she would agree to the contest without much hesitation, she sure seemed determined to beat him up when she woke up from her "mini-coma".

"Hey," he said in an attempt to get her attention, a glass of water to her lips.

"Humm," was her response as she looked at him through the bottom of the clear cup.

"Do you know what me and Leifang were talking about?"

"No."

"She brought a flyer for a fighting tournament."

"Really?" Hitomi interest was already bursting at the seams. She had leaned across the table as if getting closer to Lee would help her know more before he actually spoke it, but it was actually bringing her shirt closer to the plate of beans in front of her. Lee could see that convincing her to enter would not be hard.

"Yeah, and I was thinking about entering."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, and since I can't leave you by yourself, I thought about signing you up too."

"Seriously?" with that last sentence Hitomi's level of excitement had increased ten-fold.

"Yeah, but it's next week, I don't think your shoulder will be healed by then."

Her enthusiasm stopped. Sitting back in the chair she looked at the loosely woven white cloth around her shoulder. It seemed to sneer defiantly at her.

"So you're not going to let me enter," Hitomi mumbled. It was obvious that her own conclusions had disappointed her.

"I didn't say that," he replied, the response perking her head.

"I want to practice some before the tourney and I figured you could help me."

Hitomi's full attention was on him now.

"If you practice with me and prove to me you have what it takes to compete, then I'll sign you up. But I don't want you tearing your shoulder open in the competition."

With those words she tried to be serious about this new information and kept a straight face, but shifted nervously in her seat.

"I understand," she acknowledged.

"Good," he replied taking a fork full of rice, "Leifang doesn't know you can fight. If I think you can hack this tournament I'll expect you to stomp your opposition."

"No problem," Hitomi said with a smile.

"Besides," he continued, "I want to see the look on Leifang's face when you lay her out."

x x x x

****

The bath water was warm and filled the bathroom with steam. Slowly setting herself down in the bathtub Hitomi let out a sigh of pleasure. But it was also a sigh of relief; a sigh that let out all her pent up frustration. Frustration that had become bottled up inside after realizing that all her nostalgic memories of Ein were nothing. Nothing except memories. Piling on top of this stress was the fact that in the next few days she would have to perform for Lee, possibly better and stronger than she had ever done. It would not be and Hitomi knew that, not with her handicapped shoulder. Think about the shoulder, she looked at it. She had taken the bandage off to take a bath and it left the gash exposed. It was about the same length as he pinky finger, it was hard to believe it had bled so much, from what she was told. Taking some water from the tub in her hand, Hitomi placed it above the wound letting some of the water run down her shoulder and over the gash. Her skin around the cut started to tingle and she grit her teeth, ready for the pain, but was surprised as the wound didn't hurt. She was slightly pleased with herself. Maybe it was the fact that she would get a chance to spar with Lee and possible go to a fighting tournament. Or maybe it was because her handicap had stopped paining her. It could be her thoughts of Ein that made her smile.

Hitomi slumped down in the tub until the water came up to her chin and thought of the events ahead, hoping she had brought her karate gi.

x x x x

"Let's go shorty, or I'll leave you behind."

"I'm coming, " Hitomi replied as she struggled to get into her gi.

Hopping on one foot she slid her leg through the last pant leg and rushed out of Lee's bedroom with the gi jacket in hand. Barely catching a glimpse of Lee as he headed out the door, she followed. Parked outside was Roger's car and Lee was climbing into the front seat. She opened the back door and slid herself across the seat, pulling the jacket in with her. Roger was at the wheel.

"Thanks for picking us up," Lee said.

"No biggie, we're not going cross-country so I don't mind," Roger replied.

Hitomi kept quiet during the ride. She didn't know where they were headed, but it was not her place to intrude into their business.

"God Lee, the Shakedown's gotten way out of hand since you've been gone," Roger told him.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, Adams brought on this temporary guy to watch the door, but he really sucks."

Lee grinned a bit at the vocalization of his superiority.

"Really," he toned to encourage the story.

"Yeah, it we didn't tell him he'd let friggin' thirteen-year-olds in."

"Hah," Lee laughed in a quick show of satisfaction.

Roger continued with his story.

"It's been really crazy. These kids come in thinking I'll sell them some alcohol, which then I demand their ID and they never give it up. But just the other night this one girl showed up. A real cutey; she had this little girl face. Anyway, she took a seat at the bar and tried to order something. When I got her to hand over her ID she was seventeen, I was just stupefied."

"What did she try and order?" Lee inquired.

"I can't remember, but it wasn't anything she couldn't have. I couldn't believe she looked so young. She was foreign, some Asian girl, I had a hard time pronouncing her name or even getting her to talk."

"Always the ladies man," Lee smirked.

"You know it," Rodger replied, proud of himself.

"Did you ever get her name?" Lee asked, trying to antagonize him.

"Yeah it was Ka…Kaso…I dunno Kas— something."

"Kasumi?" Hitomi asked.

"Yeah, that's it!" Roger exclaimed, correcting himself by pronouncing the name, "How'd you know?"

"Well…I…"

Hitomi was somewhat ashamed for listening in on their conversation.

"It's a Japanese name," she explained, "I spent a few months in Japan. The names are so unique."

Lee was intrigued by Roger's new flame and he pressed Roger to tell him more.

"Did you ask her why she was at the club?"

"Yeah. Something about looking for her brother or something, it was hard to tell what she was saying with her FOB accent."

"Next time you see her, I'll translate for you," Hitomi laughed.

The car pulled into position and the sound of the transmission being put into park took her attention out the window. Lee started to exit and she did the same. "I'll pick you up in an hour," Roger said through the open car door. "Okay," Lee acknowledged as he shut the door.

Hitomi stood in front of Genzo's grocery. "Why here?" she thought. A small grocery was no place to practice their skills.

"Why are we here?" she asked Lee.

"Because it's Genzo's place," he explained.

Hitomi squint her eyes in frustration at him.

"It's a grocery," she emphasized by mumbling.

"So? Don't worry about it," he said waving his hand as if to blow off her annoyance and started inside.

She followed him inside and greeted the familiar cashier.

"Is Genzo here?" Lee asked her.

The cashier said nothing but pointed in the direction of the vault door. "Thanks," he said heading off in the direction. Hitomi matched pace with him on her right. "Good job, you're learning," she said slightly impressed.

"One more of those 'looks' from you and I don't think I could live with myself."

"Awww, am I really that scary?" she said in a playful tone while nudging him in the arm, but Lee didn't reply.

Instead he knocked on the vault door with the back of his hand.

"Hello?" came a call from inside.

"Genzo, it's me."

"I'm coming," the voice replied.

The door squeaked open as the man appeared in the doorway.

"Ah, good to see you two again," Genzo said sounding relieved, "come in, come in. I don't get many visitors these days."

They entered the foggy pool-hall again. This time Hitomi took more time to look around. The pool-hall may have once been a storage room that had been converted with a bar and stove added.

"I need to talk to you," he whispered to Lee, "but I don't think she needs to know."

He emphasized his third person reference towards Hitomi who had begun wandering around the room examining the photographs and hangings on the wall.

"Do you want a snack or something?" Genzo asked in he direction to get her attention.

"No, but thanks," she replied.

"I think you need to go get something to eat," Lee told her.

Hitomi was young, but she wasn't stupid. She could tell that two wanted some privacy. Behind the bar she looked around. Many elaborate glass bottles lined the back shelf accompanied by drinking and shot glasses. Below the bar was a small refrigerator. Opening it revealed treasure trove of food. Eggs, bacon, milk orange juice, were just some of the some of the items contained in the cooled environment. Shuffling some of the items aside revealed a few apples huddled together, as if trying to seek protection from the other inhabitants of the refrigerator by staying in a group. Hitomi chose one to isolate. 

x x x x

"Now listen Lee," Genzo told him, "I pulled some strings and this is what I have on Red."

Lee listened with care as he explained.

"They're nothing except we know them to be, a large smuggling ring. But they also have an ulterior motive."

Lee didn't say anything, but continued to listen.

"Red 32 is supposedly back by a big-time technology firm in Japan called Donovan Advanced Technologies. Well, I wasn't given the actual name, just DOATek, but Donovan Technologies is the only big firm in Japan, so it was the only logical choice. Now what I was told was that Red 32 is a source of well…._under the table_ income to fund some, " he paused to search for a word to use, "underground projects."

The strange information didn't faze Lee.

"Like what?"

Genzo stopped to recall what he had been told.

"Honestly, I don't remember," he said, "but it was some strange stuff."

Lee was satisfied with that answer.

"Well, we haven't had any problems with Red since a few days ago," he told Genzo.

"Good."

"But they're probably looking for her. Are they still as organized as they were two years ago, before we busted them up?"

"They're better Lee. If they want to find her they will. You know as well as I do that they've got a punk at every corner with a picture in one pocket and a pistol in the other."

"I know," Lee replied.

"Good. Just make sure you keep an eye on her, I don't want another incident like what happened to Kim."

"Hey! You leave Kim out of this!" he yelled.

"Then you keep an eye on that girl!" Genzo retaliated.

The two men were now in a vocal superpower match.

"I've been doing that! You didn't have to bring Kim up!"

"If anything happens to her you're going to regret it!"

"Fine! But she can take care of herself."

Genzo stopped in mid-argument. He had forgotten that the reason Red 32 was after the little girl was because she had succeeded in defending herself against them.

"Really…" Genzo trailed off, but picked his sentence back up, "then I'd like to see you two go at it. I know what's why you're here."

Lee smirked to himself. "Well…" He had no defense. His other true motive had been exposed.

"Okay," Genzo laughed, "help me move the pool table and you two can have at it. I know you came here because you don't have enough room in your dinky apartment and this is sort of a safehouse for you. I know you better than that Lee."

He listen to Genzo's scolding as he went behind the bar and searched its cabinets for a pot. Finding the cooking utensil he filled it with water and sat it on the stove. After setting the water to boil he reached into his pocket and removed a U-shaped piece of plastic. Washing it off under the bar's sink he dropped it in the pot.

x x x x

Lee pushed the pool table against the wall, clearing a spot big enough for them to spar. "Here," Genzo said holding out a pair of padded training gloves. Lee took them, but didn't put them on.

"Hey Lee, what are you cooking?" Hitomi asked, curiously looking down into the pot.

"It's a mouth guard," he said walking over to her.

"Wear these," he commanded giving the gloves to Hitomi.

"Why? Are you afraid I'll hurt you?" she smiled.

"No, I don't want you to hurt yourself."

Lee slid a drawer open and took a pair of tongs. Fishing out the plastic that had become soft and limp he looked at Hitomi.

"Open your mouth," he said.

The command seemed strange and caught Hitomi by surprise, but she did as she was told. Carefully holding the guard by his middle finger and thumb he placed it inside Hitomi's mouth.

"Bite down on that."

She exerted obvious effort into the soft plastic.

"When it cools you can take it out. I don't want you ruining you perfect complexion," he grinned at her.

"Hai."

The plastic muffled her reply.

"And put those gloves on."

"Hai."

Hitomi pulled on the fingerless gloves. Their feel and smell attempting to resurrect more nostalgic feelings. She found the Velcro straps and secured the gloves around her wrists.

"Okay Lee, I'm ready," Hitomi said pulling on her gi jacket and tying it up with the belt.

Lee stood in the middle of the space he cleared and started to unbutton his shirt. He beckoned to her with his hand and she approached. Stripping himself of the shirt he tossed it on the pool table.

Hitomi was impressed. Lee was built better than she thought. She was expecting a long and thin Chinese man, but was pleasantly surprised at his muscle mass. Hitomi smiled at him, a reaction she was unaware of, but Lee thought nothing of it. "Stretch out," Lee said, pulling his arm over his head. Hitomi followed suit and stretched the same.

After the two had finished their precautionary exercises Lee set himself in a fighting stance. See he was ready Hitomi set herself into position.

"I want you to hit me hard," Lee told her.

"But…" Hitomi was reluctant to strike with all her might. She knew that she could easily injure him with a well-placed blow. 

"You want to go to the tourney?" he asked sternly.

"Y – yes," she shly replied, her words catching on the words in possibility that she could be denied entrance to the tournament.

"Okay then, hit me."

Hitomi shifted her feet, stabilizing her stance. "Ikimasu," she said taking a step forward. She struck quickly at Lee's shoulder. He easily turned it aside. Hitomi realized she missed her chance. Lee struck her square in the chest with the palm of his hand. The blow had the effect of a powerful shove and she lost her balance. Stumbling backward Hitomi regained control. Setting herself again she assessed her opponent. He bounced lightly back and forth before settling down to his stance.

"C'mon, hit me," he challanged.

Hitomi reached up and adjusted the mouth guard. Rushing towards him she kicked towards his mid-section. Quickly thwarting her offense he pushed the leg away. Gathering he balance she kicked towards his knee. "You'll have to be faster than that," Lee said as he caught her foot. He pulled her foot towards him. She fell on her back and slid forward. Hitomi was terrified. Raising his foot, Hitomi could see Lee's eyes. They were serious, determined. His strength not just physically but mentally was unwavering. As his foot came down Hitomi was sure of the pain to follow. She watched the foot and closed her eyes. But the pain never came. Opening her eyes a leg, the instrument of the should-have-been pain stood next to her head. "You lose," he said helping the defeated to her feet.

"Dammit Lee, you scared me with that foot thing! I thought I was going to die."

"It wouldn't of killed you, but you would have been in a world of hurt."

Hitomi playfully pushed him aside, giving enough room between them to take her karate stance again.

"Again?" she asked.

"You sure?" he said setting himself across from her, "I wasn't scared of you at all."

Hitomi was offended. Bringing her arms together in front of her she took a step forward with her left food. Turning her left hand down she extended her left arm in front of herself at an angle. Her right hand was turned upward and the right arm extended behind her, up at the same angle as her left arm. It was if she had been possessed by the phoenix emblazoned on the back of her jacket. Bringing her arms back together in front of her again Hitomi let out a yell of power.

Lee stared at her. He was amazed. Slowly, he started to grin. The grin turned into a smile. Moments later he was doubled over laughing uncontrollably.

"What?" she asked.

Lee's only reply was more laughter.

"What?" she asked again with more urgency.

"Nothing," he forced out while gasping for air, "that was just so funny."

Hitomi became annoyed with him and crossed her arms over her chest as a show of her disappointment.

"Sorry," Lee said as the laughter slowly left him.

"You weren't supposed to laugh."

"Was I supposed to be intimidated?" Lee asked, while starting to laugh again.

Hitomi gave him half of one of her infamous stares. Her face showed of anger and disappointment. He stopped laughing.

"You won't beat me this time," she told him taking her stance again.

"Oh, you think so, huh?"

"And you're not going to get me with that stupid foot thing again."

"Bring it," Lee taunted, motioning with his hand.

Hitomi shifted her feet again. The hardwood floor below her feet was a familiar battleground.

Taking a step forward she punched towards Lee's midsection. He blocked the attack with ease. Pushing her away Lee administered a powerful kick to her stomach. Hitomi found herself falling towards the floor. Her vision blurred momentarily; the back of her head burned in pain as it collided with the floor. Gasping for air she recollected herself. The hardwood floor was all she would see. But Hitomi was losing. At this rate there was no way Lee was going to let her enter the tournament. She was well aware of this. Righting herself Hitomi shook her head to try and rid herself of the pain and disorientation. 

"Ich werde nicht verlieren!" she yelled at Lee in her native tongue. 

"Ooooh, I see I've struck a cord," Lee antagonized.

"Ich werde dir so eine verpassen, das du so schnell nichtmehr aufstehst!"

Hitomi was clearly angry at Lee's ability to stop everything she threw at him. Getting ready in her stance once more she took a deep breath. The anger was converted into determination.

Lee looked at Hitomi's metal focusing.

"I don't know what you said, but those were some scary words from a not-so-scary little girl."

Hitomi charged him once more. Taking a shot at his stomach with her left arm he easily blocked it. Pushing her arm aside, he didn't see the right one come up from under his chin. Hitomi uppercut caught him by surprise. As she followed through with the punch Lee felt his jaw strain under the pressure. His feet left the ground. The energetic yell she vocalized only reinforced his perception of her power. Lee was now at a forty-five degree angle in mid-air, becoming more horizontal as he fell. He tried putting his arms below him to catch himself as he met with the ground. But he had too much velocity. Lee's arms became tangled below him. He let out a grunt of pain as his body weight crushed the joints at odd angles. A sharp pinch from his left shoulder informed him something had gone wrong. He struggled to his feet while Hitomi readied herself for Lee's retaliation. But she didn't have to defend against him. He didn't attack; instead, stood holding his left shoulder. Hitomi let down her guard and went over to check on him.

"What's wrong?"

"I fell on my arm and dislocated my the shoulder."

"Owww."

"Yeah, but I'll be okay."

"Lee," she said, her voice full of concern, "you need to go to a hospital."

"No, I'm alright."

"Yes you do," she argued, "you have to get a doctor to reset the joint."

"Nah, I'm okay."

"No you're not," she continued getting a little angry at his defiance, "I've had a dislocated shoulder. It hurts."

Lee grabbed his left arm. With a grunt pain he elevated the arm above his shoulder, before Hitomi could protest and stop him. A sickening pop was all Hitomi heard as she watched him, and let out her own whelp of pain.

"There," he sighed while moving the corrected ball joint around, "no problems."

"Ewww, that was nasty," she replied slightly disgusted.

"I think I'm done for the day."

He went over to the pool table and retrieved his shirt, but struggled to put it on. It was clear that the shoulder still hurt him. Hitomi went to his aid, helping his arms into the shirt. Straightening out Lee's collar, she started buttoning up the black silk shirt.

"She sure acts like your girlfriend," Genzo teased him, though loud enough for both of them to hear.

Hitomi could feel her face getting warm. She knew it was turning a shade of crimson from embarrassment.

"Well—I—erm," was her response as she tried to come up with a response.

"No, that's okay," Genzo stopped her, "I understand."

Lee watched the little fighter as she left the bottom two buttons unclasped.

"There," she smiled with satisfaction while giving his shirt a tug to smooth out any wrinkles.

Lee walked over to the couch and took a seat, but Hitomi didn't follow him. Going behind the bar she filled a drinking glass with water. Joining him on the couch she offered the water to Lee. He tried taking it with his left hand, his shoulder reminding him of the fulltime movement. Changing hands he received the glass. "Thanks," he said taking a drink.

"Wow Lee, she knocked you one pretty good," Genzo smiled.

"Hey, I rolled her across the floor."

"Give her a break, she's half your size."

Hitomi placed her hand on his forearm to get his attention.

"It's okay Lee-chan," she smiled, "I've learned from my mistakes, it won't happen again."

"Good."

Trying to look away he could tell she was not content. Hitomi stared at him with a wanting, like a child after an unobtainable candy.

"I suppose you want to know if I'll let you go," he concluded.

"Yes," she replied, his question perking her head.

"Well, there's still a few days left before the tourney, but I want to practice a little more."

Hitomi facial expression slowly drooped to one of disappointment.

"Don't worry," he assured her, "you did well today. Just keep it up and I'll let you go."

Her reply was a smile of joy.

"But I'll warn you," he continued, "if you slack off, and I get a lucky hit in, I'm not going to let you go."

"I understand," Hitomi acknowledged, "I will not disappoint you."


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7  
  
The days seemed to last forever. There was a general routine that they followed, during those days before the tournament. Hitomi would wake up, cook them breakfast and go wake Lee. After eating her breakfast, which was always delicious although Lee failed to acknowledge the fact, she would take a quick shower. If she took too long Hitomi knew Lee would grow impatient and she didn't want to upset him. It wasn't a big deal though, Lee showered at night, so there wasn't a line to bathe. After her shower, Hitomi searched for something to wear. It was never hard for her to pick out something; she was comfortable in just about everything and looked equally attractive in as well. They walked over to Genzo's grocery, Hitomi clinging to Lee's arm for the majority of the walk. He didn't mind, Lee knew that protecting her was his one priority.  
Lee sat on his couch, dressed in his usual casual apparel. A dark red, button up, silk, shirt sat untucked over a pair of black slacks. A pair of black, thick soled, shoes completed his "lazy business man" attire. "Are you ready yet?" he called into his room where the girl had gone to change. There was no answer. He was losing his patience and was ready to burst through the door to check on her, but he knew better. He had more respect for her and himself that to go spy on little girls while they were changing clothes. Besides she would probably knock him flat if he tried anything.  
Hitomi came out of his room and presented herself to him, and indication that she was ready. Lee stood to leave but stopped. Something caught his eye. He looked at Hitomi. The dark, stone washed, jeans she wore were matched by an accompanying jean jacket. His eyes trailed toward the floor.  
"Those are hella boots," he said.  
"What, these?" she asked, turning her foot to display the entire boot. The brown, semi-work boots bore a circular, brass, buckle on the ankles.  
"My father got these for me for my birthday last year."  
"I hope you're going to take those off, I don't want to take a hit by them."  
"I'll take them off."  
  
x x x x  
  
"Genzo, it's me. Open up."  
"I'm coming, I'm coming. I'm too old to have you hassle me, Lee." The vault door squeaked open.  
"C'mon in and make yourselves at home," he invited.  
Hitomi followed Lee inside. Taking a seat on the couch she placed her hands in her lap. Lee took a seat next to her; Genzo in his chair.  
"I have a favor to ask," Lee said.  
"What do you need Lee?" Genzo asked, "I'd be glad to help you out."  
"I need some money."  
"Money? Money for what?"  
"I want to enter a fighting tournament."  
"Another one?" Genzo sounded a little surprised, "at the last  
one you got whooped. And it was a pain having the boys look  
over your hospital room."  
"I know, but I don't plan on losing."  
"You didn't plan on losing last time."  
"That last tournament was a world tournament, this is just a  
local muscle match in San Diego."  
"Are you going to put Hitomi in it to?"  
"Yes." The old man stopped to think. He took his smoking pipe off the coffee table and placed it in his mouth; but didn't light it.  
"Lee, I don't want her fighting," he said, emphasizing his point  
by using a serious tone of voice.  
"I think she could defend herself just fine, haven't you been  
watching us the past few days?" Lee asked.  
"Yes, but I saw her favoring that shoulder." Hitomi stopped. Maybe she had, without realizing it relied more on her left arm the past few days.  
"And I don't think it's hindered her ability to fight at all," Lee argued. Genzo lit the pipe with a single match from his shirt pocket. Taking a few puffs from it he took the pipe in his hand and exhaled. The exiting of the smoke relaxed him.  
"Lemme see your shoulder Hitomi-chan." She obediently took off the jacket and laid it next to her on the couch. Taking hold of the t-shirt sleeve she pulled it up enough to reveal her shoulder.  
"Take the bandage off." Hitomi unraveled the gauze and placed it on top her jacket.  
"It looks bad from here," he told Lee.  
"Nah, look at it closer. It's not that bad."  
"C'mere," Genzo beckoned. Hitomi went over to him and kneeled next to his chair. Taking her shoulder he held it gently. The wound had scabbed up. It seemed out of place, marring her smooth, tanned skin. With the care of a doctor he rubbed his thumb across the scab, looking for telltale signs unknown to her.  
"It doesn't look that bad," he said.  
"Well she fazed out when it happened," Lee told him.  
"Huh?"  
"Yeah it was really weird. She blanked out and her eyes glazed  
over like she was in some sort of trance."  
"From her shoulder being hurt?" Lee shrugged, "I think it was grazed by a bullet."  
"What!?" Genzo let go of the little girl's shoulder in surprise.  
"What are you talking about, Lee?" he asked.  
"When we were coming home from visiting you last week, Shorty ran off by herself." Hitomi sat on the floor. Putting her hands in her lap she lowered her head. She was ashamed that Lee was talking about her disobedience; it was not something she was proud of. Lee explained the story:  
"We were coming home last week and Shorty ran off by herself.  
When I finally caught up with her she elbowed me in the face and  
was being chased. They saw me and stopped, but must have  
recognized me from somewhere. They drew and I took them down,  
but one of them dropped a gun and it hit the ground and  
misfired."  
"Cheap ass Glocks,"[1] he mumbled, "made outta nothing but  
plastic." The grocery owner was not surprised by his story. It was all too familiar to him.  
"Well, I don't think it'll leave a scar," Genzo informed her,  
reassuring Hitomi by placing his hand on her shoulder.  
"A - arigato Genzo-san."[2] He adjusted the pipe in his mouth. Lee looked at him and Genzo knew he wanted something. It was one of those looks, the kind that operated on the sub-conscious level of communication.  
"I'll let her go," Genzo said, "it doesn't look too bad." He pulled out a wallet from his back pocket and flipped it open.  
"How much do you need Lee?"  
"Humm, entrance is a hundred-fifty, bus fare, hotel," he trailed  
off calculating expenses, "probably around a grand." It was a sum that Genzo was clearly not anticipating, but he seemed ready to assist anyway. Removing a plastic card from his wallet he motioned for Lee. Standing up and putting his wallet away he took him aside. "Lee," he said in a soft tone putting his arm around the bouncer's thick neck, "I love you like a son and I'll do anything for you." He handed Lee the credit card.  
"But don't disappoint me."  
"Thanks," Lee said stuffing the card in his pocket. Lee turned to leave. "Lets go short stuff." Hitomi got up from the floor and joined Lee by the door. "Arigato Genzo-san," she said bowing to him. He waved his hand signifying it was not a problem.  
  
x x x x  
  
Shutting his apartment door Lee walked over to his phone in the kitchen. Picking up the receiver he looked at Hitomi who had taken a seat on the couch. "Go pack," he told her, "there's a suitcase under my bed." She got up and disappeared into Lee's room. Once she had gone out of view he dialed a phone number. Hitomi pulled a leather suitcase out from under Lee's bed. "Wow," she thought, "this is a nice suitcase, although it's kinda small." Unzipping the suitcase she shuffled around her clothes that had taken over Lee's dresser. Picking a selection of shirts, pants and underclothing she stuffed them into the case. Lee joined her and searched through his closet, yielding a backpack. Taking out his clothes he carefully placed them inside the pack. "Be sure to pack your toothbrush," he told her. Hitomi left the room while Lee continued to pack the items he needed. Hitomi came back and tapped him on the shoulder. "Here," she said, holding out a reusable plastic bag. As he took it he saw she hold a second one that already enclosed her toothbrush. She threw it into the suitcase. Lee went to go find his toothbrush so he could do the same. Hitomi sat down on his bed. It was a little stiff for her liking, probably too stiff to be comfortable for anyone. Her curiosity started to surface again. Lee's room was the first room of the opposite sex she had been in, besides her father's but he really didn't count because he shared it with her mother. She was an only child, not having any brothers to give her a window into that other realm where the members of the other gender dwelled. Taking a look into his closet she wondered if the clothes he wore would give away what kind of person he really was. But all his clothes seemed the same. Lots of dark silk shirts, black slacks and jeans, it was very bland to her. Something caught her eye. In the far corner of the closet hung something different. Retrieving the hanger she held it out in front of her to examine it. A black jacket shone of silk, but it was different from the other garments. This one was lined with white silk on the edges and sown together with white thread. The front did not have buttons or a zipper to keep it closed, but instead large fabric loops on the right side that clasped onto cylindrical wooden plugs on the other side. Hitomi turned the jacket around to examine both sides. Embroidered across the entire back of the jacket a colorful Chinese dragon showed its teeth in defiance. She gently the stroked dragon with her hand. It was soft, nothing like it's angry appearance.  
"Kirei,"[3] softy escaped from her, unaware of the word.  
"Huh?" Startled, Hitomi turned around. Lee was standing behind her.  
"You like that?" he asked.  
"Yes, it's very pretty."  
"It is," he agreed. Slowly taking the hanger from her Lee removed the jacket. He seemed to be studying the dragon, as if he was communicating with it. "Kim gave me this for my birthday," he said to himself, longingly looking at the dragon. Carefully folding the jacket he placed it inside the backpack. Reaching into closet he pulled out a pair of pants. They also shined of black silk, but seemed heavy and thick. It too had a dragon embroidered on it. Towards the foot it was wrapped in around the leg in anger, a snarl on its face while flames flickered in the background. Folding them Lee placed the pants on top of the jacket in the backpack. Putting his toothbrush inside he zipped the pack shut.  
"Are you ready to go," he asked.  
"Yes."  
"Is there anything else you need?" Hitomi stopped to think.  
"No, I don't think so." Lee picked up the suitcase and his backpack and carried them out of the room. Hitomi followed. Setting them by the front door he took a seat on the couch. A second body plopped into the seat next to him. As he stared at the ceiling in though she asked him a question.  
"Lee, who's Kim?"  
"Huh?"  
"Kim, the person you and Genzo-san were arguing about," she reminded him.  
"Why?"  
"Because I want to know. I want to know why you two were yelling about her." Lee wanted to answer her question. He knew it would be good for him to at least get it off his chest; besides she would probably just keep bugging him about it.  
"A friend."  
"Just a friend?" He paused for a moment to rethink his answer.  
"Yes."  
"What happened to her?" Hitomi inquired. Lee did not answer.  
"I'm sorry," she said, "if you don't want to talk about it, it's okay."  
"No. If you want to know, I should tell you." He shifted uneasily on the couch.  
"Back two years ago, me and the boys were out on a job. I was  
eighteen, thinking I was invincible. Anyway, we were supposed  
to go bust up one of Red's deals in south LA. We had gotten a  
tip off that it was a big one and we wanted to kinda throw a  
wrench in the their plans. We were watching them pull the  
transfer at one in the morning, just watching. Then, Kim just  
casually walked into the whole thing like she didn't see it  
going on. At first it looked like she was with them, but you  
could tell she wasn't part of it. They all pulled on her and  
were ready to shoot her up." Lee sat up and rubbed his eyes, as if rubbing out the memories to tell.  
"I hate to see any woman shot full of holes," he continued,  
"especially not an innocent little girl like Kim. She had no  
idea what was going on. I had to stop them, there was no way I  
was going to let them kill her." A slight smirk formed on his face.  
"We hit them from every direction. They were so confused they  
didn't have a chance. And they didn't get back up. Turns out  
that she was wondering around 'cause she just lost her  
apartment."  
"How sad," Hitomi contributed, "didn't she have anyone else to go to."  
"I asked her, she said that her family had disowned her;  
something about a fight over money after her parents died in an  
accident."  
"That is very sad," Hitomi added.  
Lee shrugged, "Sometimes you get dealt crappy cards. I talked  
to Genzo and arranged to have her stay with us."  
"How old was she?"  
"Eighteen, same age as me at the time. She was always happy it  
seemed, always smiling. She was very popular with the boys,  
they all had a thing for her. But it was like she had walked in  
on their deal just to stay with me." It was a side of Lee that Hitomi had never seen before. The iron-skinned, forever serious, bouncer had a soft spot of some sort and the Kim he talked about had found it. He continued with the story,  
"She was always with me. Always, except with I was out on jobs.  
She was always waiting for me when I got back. Kim knew how we  
worked, and we trusted her. But she was always there when I  
came home." Hitomi looked at him. The grin of happiness on his face left him, leaving an emotionless one behind.  
"Until," he paused, "until they started looking for her."  
"Huh?"  
"Some of them survived our ambush, they must have thought she  
was the reason for the our little surprise. They wanted to find  
her. Kill her. Kim always liked to walk, walk everywhere.  
They tried to get her when she went places. It was a good thing  
I was with her or they might have gotten her too. But I wasn't  
able to protect her forever. One night I came back from a job  
and she was gone. The grocery was trashed, the hinges off the  
vault door had been melted off. They must have found her." Lee stopped, deep in memories.  
"And two years later, I still haven't found her." Hitomi placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.  
"She's probably dead," he said.  
"Don't say that," Hitomi whispered, "she's out there, waiting.  
Waiting for you to find her again." A knock at the door interrupted their conversation, followed by a call from outside.  
"Yo Lee, are you home?"  
"Yeah, c'mon in." The door opened. Roger walked inside shutting the door behind him. He saw Hitomi and Lee on the couch.  
"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt anything."  
"No, you didn't interrupt," Lee told him.  
"Good. Are you ready to go?" Lee looked at Hitomi for confirmation. She nodded her head in agreement.  
"Let's go then," he said standing from the couch.  
  
x x x x  
  
It was a five-hour drive to San Diego. It was an experience for Hitomi, living in Germany and Japan there wasn't many five hour-long car trips. The German public transportation system was very efficient, as Japan's. Her gamily owned only one vehicle, which was hardly used. Japan's public transportation system was like perfect clockwork, and intricate network of bullet trains and subways.  
Roger's car pulled into a gas station. "I gotta fill up before we get on the highway," he said, "you got a few minutes to do whatever you want." "Do you want anything?" Lee asked turning around in the front passenger seat, to Hitomi in the back. She didn't reply. "C'mon," he said getting out of the car, "maybe you'll see something you want." He got out and she followed him into the gas station. Lee wandered over towards the cooled refrigerators.  
"You want something to drink?"  
"Okay." She opened the glass door and pulled out a bottled drink. Lee took it from her.  
"Chocolate milk?"  
"Uh huh."  
"Do you want anything else?" She promptly handed him a candy bar.  
"More chocolate huh?" Hitomi gave him a girlish smile.  
"Well, if that's what you want," he paused, "but I don't see how  
you don't get fat eating all this chocolate."  
"I'm German. I'm immune to all the side-effects of chocolate,"  
she smiled. Taking a drink for himself Lee closed the refrigerator. On his way to the cashier, with the little girl following him, he snatched a pack of chewing gum off the shelf and added it to his haul. As the cashier rang up his total he looked out at Roger who was putting the gas pump away. "Add the gas on whatever pump that big blue car is on too," Lee told the cashier. The total seemed a bit steep, especially for Hitomi who was not yet used to the United States monetary system and dollar values. Lee handed the cashier the plastic card. He took it and a moment later handed it back to Lee along with a receipt. Lee took the card, signed the receipt and gave it back to the cashier. Taking his goods he stopped Roger on his was into the gas station. "I got your gas covered," Lee told him, "I want to get there as soon as possible." Roger, stunned, stood for a second to let the information sink in. "Uhhh, okay."  
Three hours into the trip Hitomi stared aimlessly out the window. Endless groves of citrus trees in both directions. The same scenery that had past for the last hour. Now she had grown tired of it; she had just grown tired all together. The warm sun through the window and the large, soft, cloth seats didn't help either. Shifting her body so that she was in a comfortable position in the corner of the backseat, she shut her eyes. Just to rest them.  
Lee popped a piece of gum into his mouth.  
"I appreciate you coming with us, Rod."  
"Hey, no problem. I needed a vacation and I want to see this  
tournament thing. I thought that stuff you do was only in kung-  
fu movies."  
"Heh, nope. Strangely enough a friend of mine taught me Jeet-  
Kun Do. He was a big fanatic, told me that I needed to learn  
discipline. So he started teaching me when I was little. I  
guess I just never stopped practicing." Roger took a drink from the open soda bottle in the center console.  
"I've used it to defend myself for as long as I can remember," Lee added.  
"Well, you sure are one scary mutha when you're watching the door." Lee shifted position in the seat.  
"Hey shorty, you alright back there?" He received no reply.  
"Hey are-," Lee stopped as Roger held up his hand. Confused Lee turned around, looking into the back seat where he'd last known Hitomi to be. She lay sound asleep against the door.  
  
x x x x  
  
The eighty-eight came to a stop in a parking lot. Hitomi stirred from her sleep, the change in momentum had woken her. "C'mon," Lee said as he got out of the car. She stumbled to follow him around to the trunk. Lee handed her the suitcase. Dragging the suitcase behind her she followed Lee and Roger into the hotel. They stopped at a counter. Hitomi caught up to them and sat the suitcase down. A man behind the counter greeted them.  
"Hi, I'm Roger Jobes, we have a room reserved." The registration clerk typed something on the computer next to him.  
"I'll be right back Mr. Jobes," he said the disappeared into a hallway behind the desk. Roger let out a whistle.  
"Would you look at this place," he said in amazement, slowly turning around in a circle. Hitomi hadn't noticed it until now, the grandeur of the hotel she had blindly followed the two into. The white, marble floors shone of a mirror finish. The steady, relaxing trickle of an indoor fountain was another indicator of the financial status of the hotel. Several expensive chandeliers hung suspended from the high ceiling. Everything in the hotel must be expensive, including the rooms. It dawned on Hitomi that it must cost an ungodly amount of money to rent a room. She looked around for a sign. Hotel Intercontinental, San Diego. There was no doubt of the prestige of the hotel.  
"Here you are sir, please enjoy your stay."  
  
x x x x  
  
Hitomi stopped as Roger and Lee stopped in front of her. The bar tender fumbled in his pocket and took out the card he had been given. He slid the card through a slot on the door in front of him. A small light next to the slot turned green and Roger opened the door and entered. The other two followed him inside. The room was elegant, which was to be expected. To Hitomi's right was the bathroom; to her left was a countertop. A mini- fridge was recessed into it, while a coffee maker sat on top of it, prepared to be used. The room itself was small, but it did have a bathroom with a shower. The girl pulled her stuff with her.  
"Uhh Lee?"  
"Humm?"  
"Why is there only two beds?"  
"It's not my money," he explained, "I can't just go and spend it all."  
"Oh."  
"We'll figure it out later." Roger stepped between them.  
"You guys wanna get something to eat?"  
"I want to go sign up for the tournament." Lee said. Roger took a look at a clock radio that rested next to one of the beds.  
"It's almost six," he informed, "are they still gonna be there?"  
"I'm sure." Hitomi poked Roger in the shoulder.  
"Rod, I'm hungry."  
"We'll stop somewhere on the way."  
  
x x x x  
  
After piling back into the car and driving for what seemed like forever Hitomi found herself holding a fast food burger, but not quite sure with what to do with it.  
"What's the matter?" the bar tender asked, seeing her confusion in the rear view mirror.  
"N-Nothing, I've just never had one of these."  
"What? You've never had a hamburger?"  
"No, I've had one before, just, not like this."  
What? It's still a burger. It still tastes good," he encouraged. She cautiously sandwich the burger and took a bite.  
"See, it's not that bad is it?" Hitomi shook her head.  
"It tastes a little funny, but it's good." From the front seat Lee handed her a cup with a lid and straw.  
"What's this?" she asked.  
"A shake."  
"Eh?"  
"Just try it," he encouraged, "it's chocolate." She sucked on the straw.  
"It's not working," Hitomi told him.  
"Try harder." She tried again. A cool, thick, liquid filled her mouth. No doubt it was the sweet taste of chocolate.  
"This is good!" she exclaimed. Lee reached to take his drink back from the girl he had given it to. She saw his hand and held it protectively close to her. "Fine," he said, a little disappointed she had claimed his shake, "you can have it." He turned around to finish eating; Hitomi went back to the shake. As the shake neared a low level the car pulled to a stop. If front of them stood a gigantic building. An arena, convention hall, something of the sort. The bouncer got out, the other two followed him. "Do you know where to go?" Roger asked Lee as they walked towards the building. Taking the shake back from Hitomi Lee took a drink from it. The straw sputtered as it ran critically low on liquid to elevate. Roger laughed at him.  
"Did she drink all of your shake?"  
"Yeah."  
"Well, you did tell her she could have it." Lee let out a small sigh.  
"I know." When they had finally reached the building Roger looked around. "Uhh, do you know where to go?" "That way," Hitomi pointed, as indicated by the direction of another sign. She started off following the sign, the other two quickly catching up to her. They went with her through a door that had been propped open, the same sign with the directional arrow taped to it.  
The inside was busy with people. Hitomi saw a sign labeled 'registration' and began a trek in that direction.  
"Do you know where you're going?" Lee asked her.  
"I'm following the signs," he replied. As she turned the corner the bouncer casually tossed the empty shake cup into a trashcan.  
"You're following them," he said, "but you still don't know where you're going."  
"How do you know?"  
"Because it's right here." Hitomi stopped. To her left was a table with two people sitting behind it. A sign labeled 'Register Here' was hanging from the front.  
"Oh." Walking over to the table Lee stood in front of a lady situated behind the table.  
"Hi," she said, "do you want to register?"  
"Yeah." Sliding him a sheet of paper secured to a clipboard and a pen she said, "Fill this out."  
"What's the age limit for entrees?"  
"Eighteen, but they need a guardian's signature."  
"Can I get another form?" The lady slid him another copy of the paper attached to the clipboard. Taking the forms he walked past Hitomi to a bench against the wall opposite the table. "Over here," he said once he had taken a seat. Hitomi took a seat next to him. He handed her the paper.  
"You have to get someone to sign this form."  
"Like who?"  
"Like a parent."  
"Yeah but, I.I; my parents are in Germany," Hitomi choked. She was shocked that everything she had worked for in the last few weeks, all her hard work, was about to be taken away by some stupid scribble of a word.  
"I know," Lee replied, placing a hand on his chin in  
contemplation, "what's your last name?"  
"Barrens. Why?"  
"That'll be my last name too then-"  
"Huh?"  
"-Just for the tournament anyway." The conversation was loud enough for Roger to hear.  
"What are you getting at Lee?" he asked.  
"Well Shorty's parents aren't here, right? And there is no  
possible way to have them sign the papers, right? I figure if I  
take her last name, I could pass off as a legal guardian." Roger gave a slight smirk.  
"There's no way you could be her father," he said crossing his  
arms across his chest, "a husband maybe, but defiantly not a  
father." Hitomi looked up. The possibility of Lee being her theoretical husband caused her to call out the bartender's name accusingly.  
"He's right," Lee told her, "and it's probably the only way to get you in."  
"So you're going to use my last name?"  
"Yeah, I'll enter as Lee Barrens, that way, you can enter too.  
Hopefully without any problems." He handed her the clipboard.  
"Here, fill this out." After filling out all the necessary information Hitomi handed him back the clipboard. Filling out his form Lee was careful to sign his name Jann Lee Barrens. Taking the papers up to the lady he slid the clipboard across to her. Hitomi got up to follow him but Roger stopped her. "If you want to look like a wife, you'd better take this out," he said pulling on the pink accessory restricting her hair. Hitomi removed it and shook her head to smooth out her hair. Handing the headband to Roger she joined Lee at the table.  
"Okay mister," the lady paused to look a the clipboard,  
"Barrens, your competitor number is one hundred forty-three." She slid him a packet of papers stapled together.  
"This is the fight schedule, find your number and show up to the  
designated arena. There's a map of the layout of the area on  
the back page." Hitomi poked her head around him to look as he flipped through the packet.  
"And uhh, Ms. Barrens?" Ms. Barrens was too busy looking at the packet with Lee to notice her name.  
"Ms. Barrens?" Lee nudged her with his elbow.  
"Uh, oh.hai?" The lady leaned forward on the table and took a second look at the paper.  
"We need a parents signature, I'm sorry but your brother cannot sign for you."  
"Eh?"  
"That's okay," Lee stepped in, "I'm her husband. Surely I can sign for her." The lady did a double take.  
"What?" Lee asked. He could tell she wasn't convinced. He rolled the packet and stuffed it in his back pocket. Some quick action was needed or they might discover their plan.  
Taking Hitomi in his right arm Lee pulled her close. The action was an expected advance, especially from Lee. It caught her totally by surprise. With his free hand he brushed the hair from her face and gently caressed her cheek. She could feel her face getting warm. Her breathing intensified. He could feel her chest moving in and out as it pressed against the side of his body. Lee leaned in towards her. Hitomi's breath was warm. Their eyes met. His eyes were serious, determined; not affectionate at all. Hitomi's eyes widened with anticipation. The distance between their faces lessened and their foreheads bumped softly together. Lee leaned in and lightly kissed Hitomi's lips.  
Pushing him away her face developed a sly smirk, along with a bright red color. She placed a finger across his lips as if to hush a reply. "I'll be back," as said and left. "Alright," the lady concluded, "I guess in this day and age anything is possible." She handed him another packet with a number written across the cover page. One hundred, forty-four.  
Roger followed the red-faced little girl as she fast walked down the hall away from him. She turned the corner and he followed but stopped abruptly. The door she passed entered had a sign. One that prevented him from entering. Forever. A black sign with a word and a symbol for those indicating which it admitted. Stuffing his hands in his pockets he leaned against the wall opposite the door. He knew she was upset, probably more embarrassed than anything else. Lee joined him.  
"Is she mad?" Lee asked.  
"Probably."  
"Do you think she's crying?"  
"Maybe."  
"Is she gonna hate me?"  
"Probably not." Lee leaned his head against the wall. A shift in his stance indicated his nervous state of mind. Roger grinned. "Is she a good kisser?" Lee glared him a look not to be joked with. "No, huh?" Their attention went to the door as it opened. Hitomi stood before them. Her face was losing it's red color, but was moist. "Maybe she just went to wash her face," Lee thought; although it occurred to him that crying was a more likely explanation.  
Roger knew trouble when he saw it. He knew the look on her face and could tell she was the physical embodiment of all the trouble in a four- mile radius. And it all was going to be projected towards the one that had offended her. "I'm gonna find something to drink," he excused and quickly left the scene.  
Lee also knew trouble, knowing he had kissed himself into a corner. "It's okay," he assured himself, "I've taken gangs, thugs, mob leaders. I've been beaten and broken, I'm sure I can handle a little girl." He couldn't have been more wrong. Hitomi slowly approached him, looking away, trying to hide the fact that she was still weak. Her father had tried so hard; she had tried so hard to rid herself of the useless emotions. Embarrassment, anger, sadness, she knew they were all affecting her and they almost prevented her from entering this tournament. Lee had suppressed his emotions, why couldn't she? Hitomi had cursed herself under her breath, telling herself she wouldn't let herself be effected again. She took a step towards the bouncer. He stood as tall and powerful as ever; it was as if he had never preformed the intimate action. It was like it meant nothing to him, as if it was just on impulse, a spur of the moment of thing. He almost didn't even care. Hitomi quickly closed the last few steps between them.  
"Why?" she asked, her voice softy almost a whisper.  
"Huh?"  
"Why?"  
"I, erm, well."  
"No, don't," she stopped him.  
"Listen I-" Lee didn't finish his sentence; the wind forcefully left his lungs.  
"I was scared," she cried removing her fist.  
"I'm sorry," Lee said gasping for air. Hitomi clenched her fists and slammed them against his chest.  
"Why? You didn't have to do that," she cried into his shirt.  
"Do you want to fight or not?" His voice was a serious monotone. She did not answer. Lee pushed her away by her shoulder. Her face shone under the lights. "You shouldn't cry because you get what you want," he told her, brushing a tear from under her eye with his thumb. Hitomi wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand.  
"H-hai," she replied with a sniffle.  
"Now, go wash your face."  
"Hai." Wiping her eyes with both her hands she retreated back into the restroom. Roger rejoined Lee, with a soda bottle in his hand.  
"Where'd YOU go?" Lee snapped.  
"Hey, I saw that look in her eyes. I didn't want to get caught up in that."  
"Oh, thanks."  
"No problem," he said handing the bouncer the soda. Lee took a drink from it and handed it back to him. The door opened. Lee looked for an angry little girl to come out and annoy him. What he expected did not emerge, but it was something equally annoying to him.  
"Hello Dragon." He closed his eyes. Even without looking, Lee knew who it was. Only a few people knew that acquired nickname. Besides, the voice was all too familiar.  
"Hello Leifang," he said, his voice obviously annoyed, "What do you want?"  
"Why do you always assume I want something?"  
"Because you do."  
"No I-"  
"Lee, fight me," he mocked, "Hey Dragon, lets go practice, Lee  
lets go-Lee let's this, let's that. When do you want  
something?"  
"I'm not like that!" she said defending herself.  
"Yeah, whatever."  
"What difference does it make?" she asked, "You never do  
anything with me anyway."  
"Because you're so annoying." Leifang's anger was apparent. But then, she had a right to be. All she had done was acknowledge their meeting and he was pushing her away like leprosy.  
"Moooouuu!"[4] She left the two quickly turning the corner in the direction of the registration table. The bathroom door opened again and the one they had expected came out to meet them.  
"Leifang was in there," Hitomi told them. Her face looked much better now. She looked calm. Hopefully she was in a normal, stable state of mind. "We know," Lee said, "she was out here giving me trouble." "Oh." Roger took another drink from the bottle. "You guys ready to go?" he asked. Lee looked at Hitomi. She seemed a lot better. At least she wasn't going to kill him.  
  
x x x x  
  
The trip back to the hotel was long and painful for Hitomi. Her mind was a confused mess. She fought with herself inside her head over Lee's actions. Were they sincere? No. There was a big doubt. He thought of her than nothing more than his job. It was his duty to protect her. It was his duty to provide for her. But something inside her head told her, a little voice that was almost squeezed out by all the doubt. A voice that told her he really did care. It told her that there might be some possibility that he thought of her on a more intimate level than a professional one. She smiled as the she followed Lee into the hotel room and shut the door. The room's clock-radio read ten forty-two. "It's late," Lee said, "I'm tired." "Me too," Hitomi added. Although she wasn't really tired, she just wanted to sleep. Maybe sleeping would clear things up. Retrieving the suitcase Hitomi dug for some sleeping clothes. Finding them she went into the bathroom and emerged back into the room with them on. Climbing into the closest bed she pulled the pillow over her head to block the light and any noise they other two might make. Lee and Roger discussed something for a while, something Hitomi couldn't understand through the pillow. After a while the lights went out and it was easier for her to fall asleep. Slowly reality faded.  
Hitomi's sleep was interrupted. She slowly woke, her sleep ended by an event. Not something able to immediately disturb her, but a prolonged event that slowly pulled Hitomi from her slumber. "Unngh, darega denki wo keshinano?"[5] she mumbled. The lights from the bathroom had slowly woken her. Getting out of bed Hitomi stumbled over to the bathroom. Standing in the doorway she blindly groped for the light switch and flipped it off. But there was another thing besides the lights. In the quiet of the hotel at two o' clock in the morning. A alight breathing, a very faint sound, came from the bathroom. Hitomi turned the lights back on. Straddling the edge of the tub was Lee, in a pair of gray boxer-briefs. Confused, Hitomi's initial reaction was to advert her eyes, but it was obvious the he shouldn't be ignored. "What's wrong Lee?" He did not answer her question, unmoving. Hitomi watched his chest expand and contract, his breathing audible. She slowly approached him and took a seat next to him on the tub. "Lee, what's the matter?" Hitomi asked in a voice that surprisingly sounded like her mother's. He didn't reply, but continued to stare towards the drain of the tub. She reached out and touched him on the knee to get his attention, but quickly pulled her hand back in surprise. His body dripped of a cold sweat. Taking a towel from a shelf above her head she wet it under the sink. Taking it over to him she wiped his arms. It was like he was in a trance, a state of mind oblivious to all the events around him. Lee's hair was soaked from the sweat and clung to his head. She pushed the hair aside and wiped his face with the towel. He snapped back to life.  
"Oh God Lee, I was scared. What happened to you?" a clear  
urgency carried in her voice.  
"Huh?"  
"What happened?"  
"Why'd you interrupt me!?" he snapped. Hitomi recoiled at the volume of his voice.  
"Well.I.."  
"You don't disturb people while they're meditating!"  
"But, I."  
"You don't understand! You NEVER wake people while they're meditating!"  
"Fine!," she yelled back, "Next time something happens, I'll just let you suffer!" Angry, Hitomi threw the towel in his face and began to leave turning her back to him.  
"Wait!" She stopped. A honed habit her father had pounded into her head since she was a child: The ability to follow commands given to her from an authoritic male voice quickly and without hesitation. But here it was proving to be an undesirable reaction and kicked herself inside her head for stopping.  
"I'm sorry," he said, "I realize you were just trying to help.  
But I was deep, you could of really screwed up my head." The quick apology was uncharacteristic of Lee. Hitomi turned around to check and see. It couldn't be the same person she knew, the one she knew to be stern, serious, and seemingly unforgiving. "Here." Lee threw the towel back to her. Wetting it again Hitomi wrung it out and sat next to him.  
"Why do you meditate?" she asked while beginning to doctor him.  
"Because it clears my head."  
"Do you always clear you head in your underwear?" Hitomi tried to hold back a laugh.  
"No, but I didn't pack any extra clothes. I didn't want to ruin the ones I had." Taking the towel over his far leg she started wiping around his thigh. Bringing the towel back, it was stained with an all too familiar color.  
"What's this!?" she asked, her voice carrying a scared tone once more.  
"That's nothing," he assured her.  
"How is this nothing?" Hitomi held up the towel so he could see it's color too.  
"That always happens. Look." She stood from her seat and looked at his leg. But what she saw scared her even more. Inside the tub a small stream of red flowed down to the drain.  
"Lee." He knew she was concerned about the blood.  
"It's nothing really. I got this bad cut the same night Kim  
disappeared. For some reason it never fully healed. When I'm  
concentrating real hard or when I'm under a lot of stress it  
bleeds. It bleeds the most when I'm meditating, that's why I  
was in here. I never really asked a doctor to look at it, I use  
it as a reminder of what I'm fighting for."  
"I'm sorry," Hitomi said, "I never realized-"  
"No it's okay really. Now go back to sleep."  
"But you must get weak from loosing so much blood."  
"Weakness is in your mind. If you are able to clear your head  
and rid yourself of emotions and pain, you will be strong. If  
you are mentally strong, physical strength will follow."  
  
----------------------- [1] Glock - an Austrian firearm company. Known for cheap but reliable guns that use lots of plastic polymer parts. [2] San - Another honorific like chan, except this is more or less, Mr / Mrs [3] Japanese- Kirei is a term generally used by girls meaning something is pretty or beautiful [4] "Moouu" --- an angry expression used in the context of "Ooohh, I'm so angry at you!" [5] Japanese - "Who left the lights on?" 


	8. Chapter 8

AUTHOR'S COMMENTARY 

****_Loyal readers; CHAPTER 8 IS DONE! Praise the Lord! I'll start on Chapter 9 soon enough, and everyone is going to have fun with the next few developments. I guarantee it.  Anyway, everyone have a good read and I now have the story mirrored at that includes illustrations for your viewing pleasure.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter at ownerizer@hotmail.com _

_Thanks,_

_Ownerizer_

CHAPTER 8

                Hitomi laid her gi out on the bed.  Spreading out the jacket and pants she smoothed the wrinkles out with her hand.  Content she took a step back and admired the outfit.  It looked like new.  Taking the accomanying black belt from her suitcase she carefully folded it and laid it on top of the gi.  

                                "Are you planning on wearing that?"

Hitomi glanced behind her.  Lee stood with his arms folded across his bare chest.  He wore the black silk pants from the dragon set.

                                "Yes."

                                "You might want to think twice."

                                "Why?"

                                "Have you ever been in a real fighting tournament?"

With an embarrassed pause she replied, "Not really."

"Because once you get in there, you're not coming back the same.  It doesn't matter who throws the first punch, blood is going to spill either way.  Do you want your pretty, white, clothes stained with blood?"

"Well, no."

"Then find something else to wear."

"I don't plan on getting blood on my clothes."

"But what about the other guy?  He's got blood too."

"So?"

Lee slowly started to grin.

                                "If you're really good, you can stain your clothes with his blood."

Surprised, Hitomi turned around.

                                "You're demented.  You know that?"

He sported a full demonic grin.

                                "You ARE demented," she exclaimed.

                                "What's wrong with the clothes you have on now?"

Hitomi looked at the clothing.  The same pair of hip-hugging jean pants she had worn from yesterday and a tight fitting, white, shirt sown together with pink thread and lined with pink on the edges.  The bird was portrayed on the front again.  It was just one of those things.  An obsession, if you can call it that; although it was too mild to be an obsession and not serious enough to be a trend.  Lee seemed to know she was thinking about the phoenix.  Maybe it was just coincidence.

                                "And how many shirts do you have like that?" he asked.

                                "Like what?"

                                "With that on them."

                                "Huh?"

                                "With that bird thing on them."

                                "Bird thing?"

Hitomi knew what he meant, but she was a little offended by his description; so she decided to be difficult.

                                "Yeah," Lee continued, "that bird thing on your shirt."

"That, Lee-chan, is a phoenix," she explained, pointing to her chest so he would knew exactly what she was talking about.

The bouncer paused, probing his brain for the story of the symbol.  Its name had been used and he knew what it was, he just didn't know WHAT it was.  Sensing his loss the girl continued with her explanation.

                                "A mythical bird that was killed in fire but was born again, stronger, from the ashes."

                                "Why do you wear it?"

"Because it's the symbol of my father's dojo.  Although he didn't acknowledge it, I knew I was his favorite student.  He always volunteered me to be an example."

Hitomi lowered her head as she remembered past memories and continued:

"I was always an example, as a sparring partner or a bad example.  It was like he wanted to exploit my weaknesses.  Dad always had special gis made for a select group of his students.  It was no surprise I was one of them.  Look."

Hitomi took the jacket of the gi off the bed and held it open for Lee to see.  On the inside her name was neatly embroidered in a san-serif text.  She ran a hand across the raised text to feel its texture.

                                "I worked hard for this," she whispered.

                                "For your name?"

To Lee, working for just your own name seemed like a waste of his time.

"It's not just my name. It's proof of my accomplishments.  It's a symbol that we were the best of the best.  The ones my father handpicked, the ones he was proud to display.  It holds a lot of meaning to me."

                                "But no one can see it on the inside."

She turned the gi around to show the back.  A huge patch of the bird displayed itself shoulder to shoulder.  The feet of the bird clasped to a banner with three words on it: vires, dominatio, constantia.[1]  Lee probably would of found the patch impressive; if he could read Latin.

"Only the Spezial Team[2] received white uniforms with the phoenix patch.  Everyone else's uniform was plain red."

                                "I see.  So I guess you really don't want it stained red."

                                She paused, "No."

                                "What's wrong with what you're wearing now?"

Hitomi looked at her jeans.  Although they were the jeans she had worn yesterday they didn't look or smell dirty.  Supposedly it was safe to wear them again.  Lee tugged her arm.  She turned around.

                                "You might want to cover up your arms though," he told her.

                                "Why?"

"Why don't you wear that jacket that you've got?  Because with all the grappling and kicking. your arms are going to get cut and scratched by fingernails, toenails, shoelaces."

"Shoes?"

"Well, you can have the other guy take them off, but they rules say their valid."

Sitting on the bed Hitomi slipped her feet inside the boots and buckled them secure.  Lee stood dumbfounded.

                                "Are you really gonna fight in those?"

                                "Why not?  If their other person is fighting with shoes on, why can't I?"

                                "Those aren't shoes," he mumbled, "they're combat boots."

                                "This is combat."

                                "No, I mean like military style combat boots."

                                "I think they're cute," she said pulling the legs of the pants over the top of the boots.

"Why are you so worried about me Lee?" Hitomi questioned, "You're not wearing a jacket either."

"I know."

"You're going to get hurt."

"Not really.  The pain helps keep me focused."

She pointed a finger at him and squinted her eyes in playful suspicion.

                                "You really are demented," she accused.

                                "In a good way."

Lee handed her the packet.  The number one hundred-forty-four was written on the front.

                                "This is your number," he explained, "the map is on the back page."

                                "I know. I saw it."

                                "Good.  Show up to where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there."

                                She paused to process the sentence.

                                "Okay."

There was a clicking sound at the door and Roger came inside with a bagel in his mouth.

                                "Fere's buckfest dun steers."

Hitomi smiled at his sentence.

                                "C'mon," Lee motioned as he took the silk jacket, buttoned it, and followed Roger out the door.  The little girl retrieved her jean jacket, joining them and shutting the door behind her.

                Downstairs a continental breakfast had been set up for the guests of the hotel.  The sheer volume of the buffet was impressive.  Eggs, bacon, bagels, fruit; it was all available for consumption.  Following Lee along the side of a table dressed with edibles she copied as he took a plate and piled food on top.  Hitomi was unsure as to what to add to her plate.  As she shuffled down the table she placed scrambled eggs, a few slices of bacon and accompanying slices of sausage.  Towards the end of the table she accumulated some strips of breakfast steak and some chopped potatoes.  Joining Lee and Roger at a table she looked for some eating utensils.  The bouncer seemed to know what she was searching for.  It was his job to look after her, after all.  "Here," he said handing her a fork.  Hitomi accepted it and started picking at the eggs.

                                "Do you know who you get to fight today?" Roger asked to neither one particular.

                                "Not off hand," Lee answered, "number one-thirty something."

                                "Hitomi?"

                                "Competitor Seventy-two?"

Roger sat back in his chair and took a drink from the coffee mug that sat next to his plate.  Lee got up and left while the little girl forked some potatoes into her mouth.  "That's a lot of meat," the bartender commented, "Do you think you can eat all that?"  Hitomi looked at the meat he was describing.  Bacon, sausage, breakfast steak; it was quite an impressive selection.  "I can eat it all," she replied, "meat makes you strong.  Physical strength allows you to dominate your opponents."  Roger listened as he took another sip from the coffee mug, and she shook a finger at him to express her point.  Lee returned and sat a glass of orange juice next to Hitomi's plate.  "Thanks," she said and drank from the glass.  Sitting back down in his chair the bouncer drank from a glass of milk.  

"I don't know who I'm fighting or what style they're using," he said, "but I'm ready for just about anything."

                                "What do you mean by style?" Roger asked him.

                                "Fighting style," Hitomi informed, "I practice Karate."

                                "I practice Jeet Kun Do."

                                "But Karate is better," the little girl chimed.

Lee knew she was joking.  He shrugged off the comment and took a bite from a half devoured, green apple he had picked up while getting Hitomi the orange juice.

                                "What time do we need to leave?" the bartender inquired.

                                "We need to be at the arena by 10 o' clock."

                                "We'd better go then," he said setting the coffee mug on the table.

Standing from the table Lee tapped Hitomi on the shoulder as she stuffed a strip of breakfast steak into her mouth.

                                "Wa—I want finish," she said with a mouth full of food.

                                "No time.  Hurry and wolf it down."

She quickly forked more food from the plate and chewed it vigorously while standing from the table.  Roger started out toward the car and Lee watched him.  Hitomi knew he was waiting on her.  Taking the glass of orange juice in both hands she didn't move it from her lips until it was empty.  Setting the glass down the bouncer guided her out the hotel to Roger's already running car.  Climbing into the car Hitomi knew that the fight ahead was going to be the toughest fight she had ever faced in her life.  Her opponent would probably be quicker than she was, and it was almost guaranteed that they would be taller.  Either way she would have to overpower them.  "One punch," she thought to herself, "one punch and they go down and don't get back up."

x  x  x  x

                Hitomi looked at her packet.  Turning it around and changing the orientation of the map didn't help.  She was lost.  Joining the flow of traffic Hitomi followed the people further down the hall.  "How can I be lost?" the little girl mumbled, "I have a map right here."  She kept an eye trained on the signs labeling each hallway that branched off of the main hall she was in.  Wandering into another hallway Hitomi stepped off to the side to look at the map again.  "I'm so lost," she cried to herself.  Turning the map around again Hitomi tried to get her bearings.  She made her way over to a bench and took a seat.  Hitomi began to feel like she'd never get to where she was supposed to go.  It wasn't fair.  She had worked so hard and gotten so far; only to get lost and forfeit her match.  Frustrated, Hitomi buried her face in the map knowing she was going to have to give up the match.

                                "Are ya' lost?"

                                "Huh?"

Hitomi moved the map from her face.  A tall young woman stood in front of her who looked to be in her early twenties.  She had blue eyes and straight blond hair that came down over her shoulders.  Her gray tee shirt with the words 'Armstrong Athletic Department' had been cut off dangerously close below her breasts revealing a supermodel stomach.  A pair of black track shorts that stopped almost too skimpy to be called shorts completed her outfit.

                                "So, are you lost or ain't 'cha?"

The accent she spoke was something Hitomi had never heard before.  It was so strange.  And when it was combined with her outrageous outfit leaving her half naked, Hitomi wondered if she was trying to be some sort of cosplayer[3].

                                "Y-Yes," the little girl stuttered, "I'm lost."

                                "Where ya' needa go?"

Hitomi handed her the packet.  Flipping through it the lady turned to the map.

                                "Honey, yer on the whole wrong side of the arena."

                                "Eeeh?"

"Look," she said showing the map to Hitomi and pointing out locations, "You're here and where you want to go is here,  "C'mon honey, I'll take you there."

Before Hitomi could thank the stranger, she found herself weaving through the flow of traffic.  

                                "What's your name?" the woman asked.

                                "Hitomi."

                                "I'm Tina.  Nice to meet 'cha."

They shook hands without breaking the stride.

                                "Why are you dressed like that Tina?  Do you cosplay?"

                                "Wha'?"

                                "Nevermind."

                                "Are ya' kiddin'?  I always wear this."

                                "It's just," Hitomi paused trying not to offend her navigator, "a little revealing."

"The more distracting it is, the easier it is to whoop yer opponet.  'Specially if his jaw is hangin' on the ground an' his tongue slobbrin' all over the place."

"How evil," Hitomi chuckled.

"It works.  Ya' got the body to do it, maybe you should give it a try."

The little girl didn't reply.  She was a little shocked by the comment.  "Thanks, I guess," she added with a pause.

                Hitomi followed Tina around a corner into another hall.  "In here," Tina said handing Hitomi back her papers and disappeared inside.  The little girl took a deep breath and followed.

                Inside it was nothing like she expected.  Well, maybe Hitomi didn't know what to expect.  The room was kind of small to fight in.  It was more like a hotel conference room, the floor lined with a gymnastics mat.  Some people sat in chairs lined against the wall.  Three of them wore black shirts with the white text "official" across the front.  She approached a man on the end with short gray hair and held out her packet.

                                "I'm Hitomi Barrens," the girl identified herself.

The man accepted the papers and looked over them.

                                "What took you so long?" he asked in a playful tone.

                                "I got lost."

He smiled at the answer.

                                "Well, get ready.  Your opponent is over there."

The man pointed across the room.  Another man seated in a chair wore a black robe with a hood that was draped across his bare body.  Hitomi went over and presented herself to him.  The hood looked up.

                                "Hi."

                                "Hello.  I'm Hitomi Barrens.  I'm going to be your opponent."

The man pulled the hood back.  He had short black hair that lay evenly over his head.  His skin was a dark brown; it was something Hitomi had never seen before.  His wide face was rough with unshaven stubble.  

                                "I'm Randy Gonzalez, good to meet 'cha."

He held out a hand, which Hitomi shook firmly.  Was he really going to have to fight a girl?  She was a pretty hot girl at that.

                                "What style do you fight with?" he asked.

                                "Karate.  What do you practice?"

                                "Freestyle."

                                "Freestyle?" Hitomi asked, cocking her head curiously to the side.

                                "It's a cross between gymnastics, kick boxing, and street fighting."

                                "So you're basically self taught?"

                                "More or less."

                                "Good. This should be fun.  Good luck Gonzalez-San."

                                "Thanks."

She turned and joined the official who had taken her papers.

                                "Are you here by yourself?" he asked.

                                "Yes."

                                "Alright.  You should probably warm-up since we'll start because you're here."

There it was.  The start of everything she had trained for, a fight in her crusade to find a stronger opponent.  Ever since she was a child Hitomi had trained with her father.  She had been disciplined to a level of expertise, one in which she could execute any move in her craft with skills that had been shaped and honed to perfection.  Now after her years of practicing against her friends, her father, Ein, and more recently Lee, she could finally show other people how ready, how powerful, how able she was.

                Moving to where she had enough room Hitomi began her routine stretching and warm-up exercises.  Pulling out her arms over her head she felt the muscles stretch to their full potential.  Touching her toes she knew that the boots would severely cut Randy if the buckle got him.  He didn't ask her to take them off.  She stood up and rotated the ball joint of her right shoulder with guidance from her left hand.  Hitomi watched as Randy readied himself across from her.  He removed the robe and she could see his bare upper body had predominate muscles.  He was toned at which his strength was apparent but they weren't extremely overpowering like body builder muscles.  A long scar ran almost the entire length of his arm.  It made Hitomi wonder where he had gotten it, maybe she'd ask after the fight was over.  Pulling her jacket Hitomi moved her arms around making sure that she still had full range of movement.

                Standing in the middle of the mat she motioned to the official that she was ready.  He joined her with a clipboard and pen and once Randy was ready he joined them also.

                                "Okay you two," the official said in a playful tone, "bow to me."

The both bowed to him as instructed.

                                "Now bow to each other."

And so they did.

                                "Now," the official paused, "beat the daylights outta each other!"

Hitomi shifted her feet on the mat and took a fighting stance.  Randy took a loose stance and held both fists in front of him like a boxer.  He bounced around and slowly Hitomi closed the gap between them.  

                                "Strike first."

                                "What? No," Hitomi replied.  He was obviously setting her up for a trap.

"It's my belief to not hit a woman except in self defense.  If you strike first, I'll consider it self defense."

Smiling, Hiotmi threw a lazy punch at his chest.  Randy easily pushed it aside and retaliated by shoving her backwards.  Righting herself she took her stance again.  "It's on now!" he yelled.  Charging he leaped a powerful kick towards her mid section.  Hitomi stepped to the side.  Randy sailed towards her on the inside.  Reaching back she unleashed a powerful punch.  It hit him in the shoulder. He barrel rolled while airborne.  He hit the mat and sprawled out like a rag doll; face down.  Randy pulled himself up and shook the fall from his head.  Hitomi smiled at him.  She knew he was caught totally off guard by the punch.  Standing back up he rotated the shoulder to tried to work out the pain.  "Damn," he mumbled taking his stance again.  The little girl had countered him so easily and now she was just standing there smiling like it was nothing, like he was nothing.  It infuriated him.  

                Hitomi could see his face.  She knew it was an expression of anger and frustration and watched as he clenched his fists and grit his teeth.  A sheer fire burned in his eyes; and into her as she stood across from him.  Randy came at her again.  His first left punch came at her and she easily turned it aside.  This made him even angrier. His anger was his weakness.  Randy took a step back.  With incredible force he sent a kick towards Hitomi's head.  The girl read his move like an open book.  With a quick sidestep and pivot in a circle she kicked his leg out from under him.  Randy crashed to the mat with his body weight exerted on his left elbow.  Sitting up he grabbed the joint.  Another official wearing a band with a red cross around her arm wasted no time in coming to his aid.  She looked at Randy sitting on the floor holding his elbow.  "Is it bad?" she asked.  He moved his hand.  Hitomi recoiled her head in surprise.  Looking at it, it was clear that the elbow was broken.  The bone above his elbow was slightly dislodged, but anyone could tell it was in an unnatural position.  "You're out," the medic told him.  "Nah, I'm good," Randy argued trying to stand.  The medic put her hands on his shoulders and held him down.  "I say you're done and you're done," her voice more stern.  Hitomi knelt down next to him.  

"I guess I need to learn how to fall," he joked as the girl smiled at him, "Congratulations on you're win."

She gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

Hitomi joined the gray haired official as he marked things down on the clipboard.

"That was impressive," he said, "One of the quickest fights I've ever seen.  Almost faster than some boxing matches."

"Thanks."

"I need you to sign here," he said handing her the clipboard.

She took the pen he offered and on scribbled on the line indicated.

                                "You're done for the day. You're next match is tomorrow at noon."

                                "Okay."

He handed Hitomi her packet of papers after writing her next fight on it.  The girl made her way towards the door. 

                                "How long did the fight last?" she asked.

                                "One minute, eleven point four seconds."

x  x  x  x

                Walking down the hall Hitomi attempted to read the fight schedule.  She had finished her fight so quickly that if she hurried she might be able to see a part of Lee's match.  Wandering down a hall, she poked her head through an open door.  Roger was in a set of on-lookers seated against a wall.  Recognizing him, she causally made her way and took a seat next to him.  Her presence surprised the bartender.  For all he knew she was supposed to be fighting right now.

                                "Did you get lost?" he asked.

                                "No."

                                "Why are you here?  Aren't you supposed to be fighting right now?"

                                "I did."

                                "You did what?"

                                "I won my match."

                                "That quick!?"

                                "One minute, eleven seconds," she grinned.

                                "Geez, remind me never to make you angry," Roger said leaning back in the chair.

Hitomi looked around the room.  It was almost the same room she had fought in.  Another corporate conference-like room, a padded gymnastics mat lining the floor.

                To her right Lee pulled off the jacked with the dragon.  He tossed it to the side and the jacket floated gently onto the back of a chair.  The bouncer was unaware of the little girl's entrance; his back had been to her the entire time.  Hitomi watched as he stretched his arms over his head and around his back, this muscles strained and pulled to their fullest extent.  Across from Lee stood his opponent.  He was huge to say the least, easily twice the size of the bouncer.  Lee's opponent was built like a older-middle age football linebacker, a big lower and even bigger upper body, complete with a bald head.  He didn't look like a practitioner of a smooth and graceful martial art.  A younger man dressed in the "official" shirt approached the two fighters.  "Now listen," he barked, "ya'll know the rules."  Lee nodded in acknowledgement.  "Now I'm going to stand over here and you two go at it.  The medic is ready in case you two break something."  Another official lazily waved to indicate his medical status.  With the preliminary stuff gone, the official stepped back against the wall.  The bouncer took his stance, unsettling on either foot.

                Hitomi looked at Roger.  He was fixated on the two embodiments of battle that were circling each other, preparing to free the other of his imprisonment of reality.

                                "Who's the other guy?" she asked the bartender.

                                "I dunno, some small time wrestler."

"Small?" Hitomi paused, a little dumbfounded by his description, "I don't think he's small."

"That's not what I meant.  Supposedly he's an undefeated champ from a no name wrestling organization, the California Coast Wrestling Organization.  I don't know what the competition is like there, so I don't know if being the undefeated champ means anything."

"He looks like a champion."

"Yeah.  And with a name like California Crusher, he sure sounds like one," Roger added with a chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Hitomi asked, the lonely humor seemed out of place.

"It's nothing," Roger replied, "it's just, I used to go to monster truck rallies.  The name of one of the trucks was 'California Crusher'."

"Monster truck?"

The bartender had forgotten that the little girl was foreign with no knowledge, from what he could tell, of one of the events that made America truly unique.

"Big trucks," he said gesturing with his hands, "with huge tires and engines with more than twelve-hundred horsepower."

"Wow."

"Yeah, I should take you to one.  You might like it," the bartender smirked.

Their conversation was halted as the center attraction started closing together.  Lee bounced back and forth, not stopping, ever ready to dodge or pounce when the moment was right.  The Crusher smirked a devilish look that sent chills down the girl's spine.  Even though it wasn't a look meant for her, she knew it all too well.  It was an expression only sported by people with intent to hurt, to cause injury and pain.  Many people had shown a look similar to it on her eleven years of training with her father.  They were the ones who's judgment was always clouded, the ones who recklessly charged head first into things.  "I'm comin' for ya' pretty boy," Crusher intimidated.  Lee said nothing in reply, but instead settled to an easy loose stance.

                The wrestler lunged towards the bouncer; both his huge, powerful hands ready to tear him in half.  Lee took a swift step backwards, at the same time letting fly with a quick right.  Hitomi watched as the fist caught Crusher on his left and his jaw strain the opposite direction.  The wrestler stopped, and moved his jaw as if to make sure it was still attached.  The girl watched a small trickle of blood form in the corner of the top lip on the side that had fronted Lee's blow.  A huge tongue slowly emerged from the mouth and brushed itself over the red trail.  It induced the most evil smile Hitomi had ever seen.  With one successful hit already in his favor, Lee took the offensive.  As his right arm came around to administer the blow it was stopped abruptly in mid flight.  With Lee's forearm in his hand The Crusher jerked the bouncer towards him.  Taking the wrist of the other arm, he wrapped his arms around Lee, effectively pinning Lee's arms behind him.  With an immense bear hug he lifted him off the ground.  Hitomi gasped at the popping noises and grunts of pain that came from Lee.  "Heh, I got you pretty boy," the wrestler smirked, looking at the bouncer's face scrunched in resistance.  Rearing back, the Crusher hurtled Lee to the mat.  The girl watched as he bounced and skidded across the thinly padded surface, finally coming to a stop with the same shoulder under his body in an inhuman position.  Struggling to his feet, Hitomi and Lee both knew the shoulder was dislocated. Again.  With a grunt he forced the ball and socket joint back into place. She let out her own accompanying whelp of pain as if to ease his own.  Advancing towards the target Lee assessed his situation.  His left arm was seriously handicapped, while the monster in front of him was still at full strength.  He felt a little intimidated. "Ooooh, pretty boy ain't done yet?" his opponent taunted.  "What? When did you start?" Lee smirked.  "I'll put you in your place boy!" the wrestler yelled, quickly closing the gap between the two.  Lee had to think fast.  He knew he had to hit his opponent in a why he could not dodge or counter.  With the Crusher charging at him, Lee lept forward.  Extending his left leg, he felt is connect with the wrestler's head.  As Lee touched the ground again he felt it shake.  The Crusher struggled to his feet.   His orientation and coordination scrambled from the blow to the head.  

                Lee grabbed his side.  He had his back to his opponent, unaware for the monster stumbling toward him.  He felt something catch in his throat and with a cough, a warm liquid slid from the corner of his mouth and pooled on the mat below him.  A heavy breathing was clearly audible, and even though it wasn't him breathing, Lee thought nothing of it.  A hand encompassed his neck and it grip tightened.  The bouncer grabbed at the hand, trying to relieve the pressure around his neck.  He felt his feet leave the ground.  Lee brought up a leg and felt it collide and sink inwards towards his opponent's crotch.  Instantly he was released from the chokehold.  With both feet back on the ground he turned to face The Crusher.  Acting on instinct he directed a blow to his opponent's face that was doubled over holding himself.  As the wrestler stumbled backwards Lee picked his leg up and with authority, administered a blow to The Crusher's mid-section.  As the wrestler hit the floor the whole building seemed to strain under his weight.

                Lee felt the warm liquid trying to force it's way out again, and put his hands on his knees to try and hold it back.  He knew his body had been strained beyond its limits as the edges of his vision began to darken.  A hand softly gripped his shoulder.  It was small and slender, nothing like the monster's hand, which had attacked him earlier.  The delicate fingers gently gripped his shoulder in concern, their nails coated with a light pink.  As the bouncer looked up, he saw a familiar face, full of worry, but couldn't quite place a name with it.  A second small hand took a strong hold of his in fear.  He felt himself loosing grip on reality.  Lee's vision left him, and he closed his eyes and slowly opened them again in an attempt to regain it.  Unconscious, he collapsed on to the floor.

x  x  x  x

            Hitomi look at Roger who had fallen asleep in one of the two chairs in the white, sterile room.  Lee hadn't moved for the last hour, it was as if he was dead.  But the steady beeping of the EKG meter reminded her that he was fighting.  She watched his eyelids flutter as his head slowly tossed back and forth.  Her chair had been pulled to the foot of the hospital bed and leaned forward folding her arms on the mattress and resting her head on top of them.  Hitomi looked at Roger again, who was strung across the chair, asleep.  She had been forcing herself to stay awake, for Lee's sake, and wanted Roger to do the same.  Clearly the events had been more stressful on him, he had lasted only half as long as her and gone to sleep in a very uncomfortable position.  With no knowledge of the time other than it was pitch black out outside the window, Hitomi fell asleep.

                A displacement on the bed woke her.  She quickly sat up to see Jann Lee slowly pulling himself up in the bed.  "Ungh, I feel like I got hit with a ton of bricks," he mumbled rubbing his eyes, "crap."  With his strength returning, but still exhausted, he collapsed back down onto the bed.  Hitomi stood from the chair, crept to the bedside and slowly stuck her head over the bed intruding his view.  "Lee," see said softly, "Lee are you feeling--."  Her words cut short.  The worried girl found herself clutched in Lee's arms, the action so quick she was unable to continue the sentence.  "God Kim, I've missed you so much."  Her first reaction was to struggle and push him away, but the sentence was so shocking, she couldn't do anything.  "I can't believe you found me Kim," his voice choking on every word, "I thought you were dead."  Hitomi couldn't bring herself to speak up and end his illusion.  "L-Lee," she studdered softly, "I--."  "No," he interrupted, "I never should have left you alone.  But you're here now.  I promise that I'll protect you forever."  He started to squeeze her closer to him, her ear pressed against his chest.  Hitomi could hear his heartbeat.  It was pulsating faster than the feelings that raced through her head.

                                "I—I can't see very well," Lee muttered, "everything is really blurry."

                                "Huh?"

                                "I don't know.  Look at my eyes, is there something wrong with them?"

He released his embrace and Hitomi studied his eyes.

                                "They look normal."

                                "Well, there's something wrong with them," Lee's voice was a calm and semi-monotone, "I can't make your face out clearly.  Hell, I can't even see my own hands."

The hospitalized bouncer held his hands in front of his face to insure that his statement was correct.  

The commotion was enough to wake Roger from his contortionist slumber and he stood behind Hitomi and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Rod?" Lee responded, his head turned in the right direction and focused on the fresh colored blur that resembled his friend, "Damn man, the guy got the worst of it, I'm sure." Lee paused.  "When did Kim get here?"

"Who?"

"Kim." Lee shook Hitomi's arm to emphasize whom he was talking about.

"Uhhh Lee, that's Hitomi."

"Who?"

Hitomi recoiled her head at his reply.

"The girl you brought with you to fight in the tournament.  She's been with you ever since that wrestler knock you around."

The girl covertly slipped her finger over the 'nurse call' button on a remote by Lee's bed and pressed it.

                                "You don't remember me Lee?" she asked curiously, looking into his eyes.

                                "I'm sorry," he mumbled, "I thought you were someone else."

                                "It's okay," she said placing her hand on top of his for comfort, "I understand."

Minutes later, a nurse entered the room holding a file folder.

                                "What's the matter?" the nurse asked to the room in general.

                                "Lee's awake," Hitomi informed, "but—"

                                "My vision is blurry," Lee said finishing her sentence for her.

The nurse took reference to the manila folder in her hand.

                                "It seems you've sustained multiple injuries to the head and torso," she said reading from the folder.

                                "Tell me something I don't know," Lee commented.

"Well, you're vision is blurry because of a concussion you received to the head.  All I can do is give you eye drops for right now, they'll help, but won't fix the problem.  You'll have to rest a few more days."

"Fine."

The nurse left.  Hitomi looked at Lee curiously.  "Fine?" she asked, "the Lee I know would have been angry and frustrated at the fact that he couldn't continue in the competition."

"Well, I don't know what Lee you knew," he replied, "but I know when to quit.  Sometimes I can be stubborn, but I'm not stupid."  The girl smiled at his comment.  He was so serious all the time that it was hard to discern his mistakes.  She pat his head reassuringly and stood from the bed.  "I'm going to the restroom," she told Roger, dodging the nurse on her way out.

The nurse walked over to Lee and unscrewed the cap on a small bottle of eye drops.  "This may sting a bit," she warned, "but it'll clear your vision a little."  Taking the bottle the nurse applied the drops to Lee's eyes.  He didn't flinch, but grunted softly as the cold drops made contact with his eyes and burnt slightly.  Once she had finished, she screwed the cap back on the bottle and took it with her as she left quietly.

Roger sad down in Hitomi's seat.  He casually waved a hand in front of his friend's face.  Lee caught his wrist.

"Yeah, I'm still alive," he joked.

"Good," Roger replied, taking his hand back.

"Do you really not remember Hitomi, Lee?"

"Who?"

"Hitomi."

"That girl?"

"You don't sound very encouraging."

"I have no clue who that girl is."

"Do you realize you've lost part of your memory?"

"I…. guess…"

It hadn't really occurred to Lee that he had lost his memories of the girl that looked somewhat like Kim in his blurry eyesight.  But it was obvious from what she had said and what Roger was telling him that he had some form of amnesia.  Roger leaned back in the chair with a heavy sigh,  "Man, what are we gonna tell her when she comes back?  _Should_ we tell her?  I mean, she is a girl, no tell how she'll react."  Lee shifted in the bed.  "Maybe if I get some sleep the memories will come back to me.  She is pretty cute.  I hope I hadn't forgotten everything about her."  Roger perked his head.

                                "What?"

                                "Oh nothing," Lee mumbled, reinstating his previous configuration on the bed.

The room door slid silently open and the sound of boot thudding against file floor indicated the return of the girl from her venture.  Roger motioned to her with his hand.  

"C'mere," he said, "we need to talk."

"Huh?"

The bartender stood from the chair and Hitomi followed him out of the room.  Out in the hallway, he looked at her, his face serious.

                                "Do you understand what happened to Lee?"

                                She made no reply.

                                "He's suffered a concussion to the head, giving him temporary amnesia."

                                "Kenboushou[4]?"

                                "Amensia."

Hitomi was shocked.  It was common for those that practiced her craft to receive injuries for that caliber, but it never really had a large enough impact as to give someone strong enough amnesia to make them forget about someone.

                                "So, he's forgotten all about me?" she asked.

                                "Yes."

                                "So, now what?"

                                "What do you mean, 'So now what'?"

"Now what do I do?" Hitomi clarified, her volume slightly increasing," Lee brought me out here, he let me fight in the tournament, I'm indebted to him and Genzo-san.  Now he's forgotten all about me and there's nothing I can do for him.  It's not like I can just start over."  Her eyes started to water.  "It was all a mistake," she told herself, "I should of stayed in Germany."  

She didn't wan to admit to herself, but she knew she was attached to him.  It seemed to be a brother-sister bond that had developed out of the environmental situation.  She stayed at his apartment, he watched over her.  But it was more than that.  At least to Hitomi.  He may have always acted tough, serious, invincible, but something told her that somewhere inside him was a kind, playful, gentle Lee.  But now, whatever chances she had of reaching that point was gone.  "W-What's wrong," Roger asked, afraid that he had inadvertently upset the girl."

"He's forgotten all about me," she said staring at the floor, "he's forgotten all about me and I'm going to have to start over from nothing."

Roger saw spot of water drip to the tiled hospital floor.

"No-no, it's okay," he said frantically, "it's only temporary, the doctor said.  His memories should return in a few days."

Still staring at the floor, Hitomi rubbed the tears from her eyes.

"Good," she assured herself, "I'll be sure to take good care of him while he's in the hospital."

"You know, they have people who do that," Roger mumbled, "they're paid by the hospital to…"

Hitomi gave him a stare.

                                "I mean, no— no—, uhhh, just do what you want."

The girl subtly bounded back into the room where Lee lay staring at the ceiling.  "I always wanted to be a nurse," she told herself, reclaiming the seat next to the bed.  She gave him a slight hug, which caused Lee to grunt softly in pain.  It took a second, as she tried to figure out what ailed him, then she realized that the hug had put pressure on the shoulder that he had dislocated.  Twice.  

"I'm so sorry, Lee-chan," she cried, rubbing his shoulder.

                                "Huh?" 

                                "I promise to take good care of you while you're in the hospital," Hitomi said.

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

  


* * *

[1] Vires, Dominatio, Constantia – Latin for "strength", "power", and "determination"

[2] German – Special Team

[3] Cosplayer – A Japanese term for someone who dresses up in a costume to resemble a fictional character.

[4] Kenboushou – Japanese for _amnesia_


	9. Chapter 9 Preview

AUTHOR'S COMMENTARY  
  
Loyal readers; Chapter 9 Preview is done...kind of. . I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter at   
  
Thanks, Ownerizer  
  
CHAPTER 9  
  
Hitomi carefully poured some hot water into a pot, being careful not to burn herself. The soup would have more flavors if the water were heated first. It had been a few days since they had gotten back to Los Angles. Lee moped aimlessly around the apartment while a strange girl changed his bandages and fixed his meals as if she had known him for years. At first he was estranged by the way she was so familiar with him and the way she promptly followed him home without any hesitation. He really began to question himself. Lee knew he had taken a beating when he fought against the wrestler. It was just his luck that the roughest, toughest opponent, the one that just barely made the limit in his weight class, would be the one he danced with.  
It was also a mystery to him why this little girl, who seemed to be unnaturally cheerful and happy, bounced around his kitchen and held sort of a childish crush on him. Lee did not know himself to be a "ladies man" so he decided that it couldn't be anything he had done on purpose that had attracted her. Her name was Hitomi, an obvious foreign name, but where she had come from and show she got here was still a mystery to him. One that he was anxious to solve, but his manners kept him from asking.  
"Here you go, Lee-chan," she smiled, placing a bowl of  
miscellaneous vegetable soup in his lap. He took the spoon she  
handed and quickly shifted position on the couch and moved the  
bowl as it warmed and threatened to burn his crotch. Isolating the pieces of chicken in the bowl, Lee devoured them first. Hitomi came over and took a seat next to him.  
"You know we got something in the mail today," she said.  
"Yeah, we get mail everyday."  
"But this one is different."  
"Oh?" She handed him a black envelope. The words "DOATek" where embossed with white letters in the top left corner. It was addressed to The Barrens. He raised an eyebrow at the name. Hitomi sensed his confusion.  
"Don't worry about that," she quickly blurted, "my last name is  
Barrens; they must have us confused."  
"Why are you so eager for me to open the letter?"  
Hitomi paused.  
"DOATek." he mumbled, "You know what this is, don't you?" She didn't respond. The smile on her face impeded any talking. Lee opened the envelope. A letter emerged with his hand. As he unfolded it, two smaller, rectangular, cardstocks, floated to the floor. Hitomi picked them up and read them aloud.  
"Donovan Advanced Technologies World Tournament Invitationals.  
Lee, is this what I think it is?"  
Lee read the letter so they both could hear.  
"Dear Mister and Mrs. Barrens, even though Mister Barrens won  
his impressive, hard-fought match which ultimately left him  
hospitalized and for that reason Mrs. Barrens chose to forfeit  
her match; the judging council in power has decided to grant you  
both invitations to the DOATek Preliminary Invitational matches  
in Dallas, Texas. The council was very impressed with both of  
your matches. Mrs. Barrens defeated her opponent in the fastest  
time ever, setting a new record in her weight class. The judges  
were also very impressed with Mr. Barrens. His fight was  
extremely brutal, himself suffering two broken ribs and a  
punctured lung. However, he managed to defeat his opponent  
before the medic could stop the fight. Therefore, the judges  
have awarded the Barrens with two tickets to the DOATek  
Invitationals in Dallas, Texas. Good Luck. Signed, James  
Tanner, DOATek, California." Hitomi could hardly believe what was in her hand. This was her chance. This was what she had been waiting for. Now she could show the world how strong, how able she was. And now, the ticket was in her hands to fight in the world's most famous martial arts contest.  
Donovan Advanced Technologies sponsored a martial arts contest; once every year. It was world-renown for bringing the best, most intensive fighters from all corners of the globe; who all competed for the two million dollar grand prize. DOATek had been sponsoring the competition for ten years, mainly to promote the sprouting, newly founded, technology firm. Originally specializing in high-end computing, DOATek branched out into information interchange via the World Wide Web. After foreseeing the dot com crash of the late ninety's they quickly acquired several major medical research corporations, including two major leaders in the field of genetics, Gencor and Human Blueprint Researchers. To many people it seemed like a strange, but smart move by DOATek's founder and president Armen Donovan, and he insisted he wanted to get a foothold in an always-expanding market. Donovan had developed an immense interest in the fighting tournament he had sponsored for ten years. The fighters started affectionately changing the DOA acronym to Dead Or Alive, and Donovan himself was caught during a press conference call it by the nickname.  
In a move that surprised the tournament organizers, but not the public itself, Donovan bought the rights to the tournament in it's entirety, the name, the event, it all became his. He slowly started to eliminate the masses of fighters flocking to the tournament by holding preliminary fights and making the fights worth any money by invitation only. A panel of judges was hand-picked by Donovan to attend each of the preliminary matches and choose one or two individuals to send invitations to.  
This was what Hitomi has been waiting for. She had done her research; she knew what it took to get invited to the DOA tournament ladder. It had been nearly six months since she received her father's approval to join the DOA tournament and seek stronger, more honorable opponents. She looked at Lee, the smile on her face unwavering.  
"What?" he asked, her delightful expression clashing with his.  
"Can we go?"  
"Go where?"  
"The DOA tourney," she replied, showing the tickets to him.  
"Relax, it's just the invitationals. It's not even worth money yet."  
"But this is it," Hitomi emphasized, "Shin no DOA.[1]"  
"It is, and at the same time, it isn't."  
"What do you mean?" she mumbled, her voice trailing off.  
"I mean, even thought we make it to the invitationals, doesn't  
me we can get any further than that."  
Hitomi frowned.  
"That's not like you, Lee. You were ready to beat your  
opposition into a pulp a few weeks ago. You were so confident  
that you were going to win that last tournament. Now you're  
unsure of attending this one?"  
Lee paused for a thoughtful moment.  
"Wait. Why are there two invites? Do you practice anything?"  
She frowned a second time.  
"You really don't remember?"  
"Guess not." Hitomi took the bowl of soup from him and set it in the kitchen.  
"You don't remember taking me to see Genjo-san and having him  
help you get to San Diego?"  
"I remember getting money for a tournament. Damn ninja beat me  
down. I might have gone to a second tournament, but I got so  
tore up that I can't remember any of it." The girl approached him as he sat on the couch and stood in front of him. He was too concentrated on the letter to pay her any thought and leaned back on the couch. Hitomi leaned forward and placed her hands an either side of the couch. She slowly leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.  
"Still don't remember?" Lee smirked.  
"No, but I like where this is going."  
"Huh?"  
"Oh nothing," he said, pushing Hitomi away.  
With her efforts defeated, she looked at him and pouted her lips.  
"What?" Lee asked, the look of frustration and sympathy apparent on  
her face.  
"You're so stubborn you won't even bring you own memories back."  
"I'm not doing in on purpose."  
"You'd better not be," she warned, "because if you are, I'm  
going to be really upset with you."  
  
x x x x  
  
Lee sat on his bed, the bandages around his waist only hinted with small specks of red. The bleeding had stopped for the most part; the bandages were only there to catch the blood that escaped as the wounds opened slightly from movement. The sound of running water came from his bathroom as Hitomi took a shower. Their regular activity patterns had changed ever since his amnesia. The water stopped and a minute later she walked out, a towel around her body. She walked around behind him. Lee kept his back turned as she undressed herself. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, pulling a t-shirt over her head. "No," he replied in monotone. He kept his eyes in front of him. A small, warm, hand took rest on his shoulder. "I won't bother you about it then," she continued while slowly removing one of the bandages from his waist. Lee flinched slightly as the bandages were removed; some of their fibers had dried in with the scab that had formed. Hitomi noticed his momentary discomfort.  
"I know it hurts. I'm sorry."  
"Pain is for the weak."  
"I'm sorry," she said quietly, replacing the bandage.  
"It's okay, you can't hurt me." The girl smiled at his comment. "There," she announced softly in triumph as the last bandage was removed and a virgin one put in it's place. "Do you need anything else?" Hitomi asked gently. He looked at her with a calm, expressionless face. "I just want to make sure you're okay, Lee- chan," she smiled, kissing him on the cheek.  
Lee turned and lay down on his stomach, stretching out a bit, groaning as he did so.  
"What's the matter?" Hitomi asked.  
"Nothing. My back has been giving me a little bit of trouble."  
"Awww, kowaii so[2]," she cooed, placing her hand on his back.  
His back muscles twitched at the touch.  
"Where does it hurt?"  
"My spine." Hitomi slowly moved her hand across his spine, gently applying pressure. She pushed down on his mid-upper spine. Lee moaned softly.  
"Does that hurt?"  
"No, push down harder." The girl placed the ball of her hand in the same spot and applied more pressure. "Harder," he mumbled. Under her hands she felt the vertebra separate and with a crunch of flesh and cartilage, come back together. The injured on the bed groaned at the rearranging of his spinal cord. Hitomi quickly retracted her hands and stuffed them in her lap.  
"I...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," she blurted.  
"No, you didn't. That felt pretty good."  
She let out a small sigh of relief.  
"Do you like pain?" the girl asked.  
An awkward paused followed.  
"Not particularly. When it happens, I tend to ignore it."  
"I see."  
"Sometimes, it the only way to win your fights. You have to  
ignore your pain so it does not cloud your mind." Hitomi gently placed her fingertips on Lee's back. His muscles flinched at even the slightest touch. "Have you conditioned yourself to ignore all touch?" she asked softly, slowly running the tips of her fingers up and down the length of his back, dazzled at the muscles twitching; careful to avoid the bandages. Lee lay in silence, trying to figure out what she could possibly want from him. He wasn't rich, of famous, or even had a nice car or house. Hell, he was downright poor. The bed shifted as the girl got up.  
"Now lay here for a few minutes," she instructed, "I'm going to  
get you something that will make you feel better."  
"I hope it's a beer," he replied.  
"Alcohol pollutes the body and mind," Hitomi called from the  
kitchen over the clanging of some pots, "it's bad for you."  
"Well, a lack of it might be bad for me, right now," he mumbled  
to himself.  
Lee scratched a itch on his head in hopes it would bring back the pieces of his mind he had lost. It was his conclusion that she wasn't with him for material reasons. He must have done something to be in debt to her, but he knew better than to place himself in debt to another person.  
His bedroom door opened to the sound of an object being drug across the floor. Turning his head he could see the girl struggling with one of the wooden chairs from his small dining table. She maneuvered it over to his bedside and bounded back into the kitchen. She came back with a pot in one hand and a wooden spoon in the other and set the pot in the chair. A familiar aroma filled the room.  
"Oatmeal?" he asked trying to confirm the smell.  
She only smiled.  
"That's a lot of oatmeal, I'm not going to be able to eat all of  
that. Besides, I don't even like oatmeal. Genjo gave me a  
bunch of it a long time ago, I haven't even touched it."  
"I know. The tin had lots of dust on it. I don't plan of  
feeding you this anyway."  
"Then what DO you plan on doing with that? That's a lot of  
wasted oatmeal."  
"You'll see," Hitomi chimed, "just relax, I promise it's not  
wasted." Lee felt the wooden spoon press against his back. It turned, and warm, thick, liquid was spooned across his shoulders. The spoon moved across his back leaving the liquid behind. The warmth of the oatmeal seemed to slowly absorb the pain in his back and muscles. A small pair of hands gently gripped his shoulders, but he was too relaxed to care.  
"Lee," said the girls voice as the two hands slowly worked in a  
circular motion, "If you weren't so uptight and paranoid all the  
time, you might actually have some fun."  
"What's that supposed to mean?" he mumbled as the oatmeal and  
massage made him powerless.  
"It means you should quit worrying and have some fun now and  
then."  
"I'm gonna have some fun," he moaned.  
"Oh?"  
"Yeah. I have some friends in Texas. We leave for Dallas this  
weekend."  
  
x x x x  
  
"Hitomi. Hitomi wake up."  
A gentle shaking action roused the girl from her slumber on the couch. Lee stood over her, buttoning up a dark red shirt that shown of silk. Hitomi sat up on the couch and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Our plane leaves in four hours, so get packed and ready to go." She stood up from the couch and stumbled into the bathroom.  
As the girl showered Lee tripped about his apartment, organizing and cleaning. A knock at the door interrupted his rush.  
"Hey Lee, are you alive in there, man?" called a familiar voice from the outside.  
The bouncer stumbled over to the door and opened it to see Roger  
standing in front of him.  
"You still alive, cripple?" the bartender smirked.  
"Alive enough to kick your ass," Lee smiled.  
The bouncer opened the door and let his friend inside.  
"I appreciate you taking us to the airport, Rod, I'm really not  
a fan of public transportation."  
"Hey, no problem. I want to show you my new ride anyway."  
"Oh?"  
"Yeah. Got a sweet deal on it too. Where's Hitomi? I doubt  
she's ever seen anything like it, I want to show her."  
"She is in the shower I think, she should be done in a minute."  
As if on cue the door to the bathroom opened swung open and steam flowed out, billowing towards the ceiling. She was already dressed, and in the process of drying her hair. Approaching the living room, Hitomi bunched up the towel and dropped it in the laundry basket by the door, pulling out a hairbrush from her back pocket. The damp hair clung to her head, mimicking her black slacks that clung to her thighs and rear; and the shirt that seemed two sizes too small that clung to her chest, revealing part of her slender, slightly muscular midriff. "Are you trying to show off?" Lee joked. Hitomi stopped, trying to process the question. Then it dawned on her while she was brushing her hair. "If you had a body like mine, wouldn't you?" she smiled. Lee thought for a moment. He never really thought himself having an attractive girl's body. But if did have one then; "Yeah, I probably would," he concluded with a grin. Out of the corner of his eye Lee could see Roger's face with a raised eyebrow. "It's probably better not to ask," Lee told him. The bouncer turned to Hitomi, "Get your stuff together. Roger's here so we're leaving." The little girl disappeared into Lee's room and quickly tossed her clean clothes and toiletries into a duffle bag. Throwing it over her shoulder she brought it with her into the living room where Lee and Roger were having a discussion. "You got everything?" Roger asked her. She nodded. "Good let's roll."  
Hitomi followed Lee and Roger out the door. She paused for a moment to watch Lee as he locked the door to his apartment. She looked around at all the cars parked in the lot.  
"Where's your car Roger?" Hitomi asked.  
"I walked," he replied.  
"Eh?"  
"Just kidding," he chuckled, "It's that black one over there." She followed him to a large black car parked in the last space designated in the lot. The car was two or three spaces away from other vehicles in all directions; it seemed to be lonely, or scaring away the other cars. The car was large and rigid, yet streamline. It's gloss black paint shown brilliantly in the afternoon sun. A horizontal stripe ran the length of the sides and outlined the letters "R/T" near the front. Its hood was kept securely down by two large hood pins, secured to thin cables that ran inside the car. Its wheels glittered blindingly, a compliment to the chrome edging the wheel wells and windshield. Its hood was branded with its genius maker's name. "Dodge," Hitomi whispered to herself. The bartender went over to the trunk and fumbled through his key ring. The trunk was adorned with a sleek black spoiler, meant to give the car better contact with the road at high speeds. Finally finding the winner, he opened the trunk and it seemed to groan a bit as it gave way. Hitomi placed her bag inside.  
"This is a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE," he said, "I finally  
was able to work up enough money to get it out of the shop. New  
paint, interior, electrical, steel braided hoses, gas lines,  
everything. I even had the engine rebuilt."  
"Very nice," Lee commented, throwing his suitcase inside.  
"It's a very pretty car," Hitomi commented, "It seems more like  
a race car."  
"Heh, you got that right," Roger smirked.  
"Huh?"  
"This thing has a 440 Magnum with the six-pack."  
"Don't you get enough beer at your job?" Lee joked.  
"You're a funny man," Roger retaliated sarcastically; opening  
the driver side door and tilting the seat forward, "Just get in  
the car, Red Skelton[3]." Hitomi climbed in the back seat and Roger pushed it forward and took a seat. It closed with a large metal on metal thunk. There was nothing luxurious about the car. It seemed like a very old, out-of-date style. Everything was operated by levers and the windows had to be rolled down manually.  
"Six pack," he explained, "is a six barrel carburetor. This  
monster burns more gas in one stroke of the engine than those  
little import racers have in their entire tank." He press down the clutch, put the key in the ignition; and with it's turn the car roared to life. Hitomi flinched at the noise engine, not expecting it to be so loud. The car eased into the street and with the lane ahead of him devoid of traffic, Roger floored the accelerator. The Challenger pitched to the left. Hitomi became pinned to the seat as the g-forces took hold. Squealing tires and white smoke filled the air. Suddenly the slowed its hurried pace, settling to a normal cruising speed. ----------------------- [1] Japanese – literally means "The True DOA." [2] Japanese – Kowaii so is the Japanese equivalent of "you poor thing" [3] Red Skelton(1913-1997) was a very popular comedian 


End file.
